On a recent workout my Garmin showed incorrect pace zones that are a zone higher than on the athletica plan page. Additionally the Athletica plan page gave 1 pace zone higher than the labeled pace and the pace shown in the “Edit Session Detail” page. This had the effect of setting my workout to be 2 zones higher than the labeled paces!
Here are the swim pace zones I have in Athletica
And here’s the workout in athletica
But when I hover over the intervals in the workout I see that they’re actually 1 zone higher then the configured range.
- The L5 interval shows 1:11/100yd to 1:17/100yd where my actual L5 zone is 1:17/100yd to 1:24/yd
- The L3b interval shows 1:24/100yd to 1:32/100yd where my actual L3b zone is 1:31/100yd to 1:41/100yd
- The L4 interval shows 1:17/100yd to 1:24/100yd where my actual L4 zone is 1:24/100yd 1:31/100yd
It looks like in the workout planner the paces are correct as in the planner the “L5” set (which is actually configured as L5 to L6) it shows up as 1:12/100yd to 1:24/100yd which is in line with my Athletica zones.
Then when the workout is exported to Garmin the zones are another full zone higher
Here’s the L5 set on Garmin, which is actually faster than my L6 zone in athletica
The L3b set on Garmin, which is closer to my L5 in athletica
And the L4 set on Garmin, which is closer to my L6 in athletica
I blindly followed the paces on my Garmin. I somehow managed to do the L5 set and failed on the L3b => L4 set. I’m also quite cooked after that workout since I was doing a full 2 zones higher than intended.
I was chatting with a masters swim coach at the pool and said I was doing 50yd intervals in around 32 seconds with 30 seconds of rest (which is what showed on my Garmin) she told me I was crazy for doing that little rest.
Looking back at my other swim workouts this appears to be happening on the others as well–they’re 2 zones higher on my Garmin than prescribed. My swim workouts have been seeming really difficult lately and this might be why.
