Garmin Connect, Avg Speed v Avg Moving Speed

zico10

Can anybody explain what is the difference between the two of these? How exactly are they calculated? Even when I don't physically stop moving at any point in an interval, 9 times out of 10 they are different. The moving speed is nearly always the quicker of the two, and yesterday my average moving speed for one interval was even quicker than the maximum speed I hit during that interval.

MalDoc

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I always took it to mean Average speed = (Distance/Time Elapsed) and the Average Moving speed = (Distance/Moving Time).
If you travel 30km in 90 mins without stopping your watch but that includes a 30 minute pit stop then Avg. speed = 20 km/hr and Avg. Moving speed = 30 km/hr. Avg. Moving Speed should always be greater.

The only way your Avg. Moving speed could be greater than your Maximum speed is if you briefly lost satellite reception or something and your true Maximum wasn't recorded.

If you've a speed/cadence sensor Avg. Moving speed will be more accurate as it knows the wheel isn't spinning as opposed to relying on GPS.

zico10

MalDoc wrote: »

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I always took it to mean Average speed = (Distance/Time Elapsed) and the Average Moving speed = (Distance/Moving Time).

That's what I would have thought, but it often happens when my elapsed time and moving time are the exact same. And to complicate matters further, whether I stop my watch or not, moving time seems to be the same as elapsed time. For instance, on Saturday, I stopped my watch to fix a puncture. I was in the middle of a 50 minute interval, and when I looked at Garmin Connect afterwards, it recorded the moving time as 1:17:40. (Shamefully long to replace a tube I know, but that's neither here nor there.) In this case my average speed was significantly faster than my average moving speed, 37.4km/hr v 24.1km/hr, so it seems the calculations are the exact opposite of what you would imagine them to be.

MalDoc

zico10 wrote: »

That's what I would have thought, but it often happens when my elapsed time and moving time are the exact same. And to complicate matters further, whether I stop my watch or not, moving time seems to be the same as elapsed time. For instance, on Saturday, I stopped my watch to fix a puncture. I was in the middle of a 50 minute interval, and when I looked at Garmin Connect afterwards, it recorded the moving time as 1:17:40. (Shamefully long to replace a tube I know, but that's neither here nor there.) In this case my average speed was significantly faster than my average moving speed, 37.4km/hr v 24.1km/hr, so it seems the calculations are the exact opposite of what you would imagine them to be.

Definitely something up with the way it's recording then. Do you clear down the history on the watch regularly?
Apparently if there are a lot of activities saved it can affect it.
Failing that try a hard reset.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Always go off avg speed. I would be less concerned about the differences and more concerned about changing a tube:) 27mins to change a tube? Get practicing in case it happens on race day, 5mins tops!