Switching between disciplines on Garmin FR235

MickeyTake

Hi,

I recently bought a Garmin Forerunner 235hr, and so far find it superb.

I would like to use it for adventure races, but to get it to track the full race I would need it to change from, for example, running to cycling back to running back to cycling. I have installed the "TriathalonDuathalon" app on it - but that seems to be restricted to bike->run transitions once only.

Does anyone know if it is possible to get the FR235 to switch between disciplines multiple times during a single activity?

Thanks

sconhome

Unless you can get a customised app the short answer is no. FR (ForeRunner) is a running watch, for multisport you need something from the XT range or a Fenix type unit.

Easiest thing to do is use the watch in one continuous 'run' and use the lap button to mark each individual change of discipline. Problem there is you are stuck in speed or pace mode depending on what way you are set up for running or cycling.

MickeyTake

The best ideas are always the simplest!

Tigerandahalf

sconhome wrote: »

Unless you can get a customised app the short answer is no. FR (ForeRunner) is a running watch, for multisport you need something from the XT range or a Fenix type unit.

Easiest thing to do is use the watch in one continuous 'run' and use the lap button to mark each individual change of discipline. Problem there is you are stuck in speed or pace mode depending on what way you are set up for running or cycling.

Ya if you are doing this just ensure that you select the 'other' profile rather than the normal 'run' profile. Otherwise your duathlon/triathlon will get mixed up with your normal run activties and skew the statistics, e.g. a 20km bike looking like a run.

coL

As the previous poster said the 235 is a primarily a running watch and lacks the multisport functionality so its not possible to do multiple switches between disciplines. I would imagine that Garmin will also restrict apps that provide this functionality as then nobody would buy the multisport versions like the 735.

There are a few workarounds as others have highlighted but depending how much time you have you might also try exiting the current activity, saving it and starting a new activity for the different discipline. I know this seems like a bit of hassle but it is actually not that hard when you get used to it and can be done pretty quickly on the fly. I do it myself on bike rides when I don't want the warm up and cool down sections to be part of the main session.

Tigerandahalf

Col

You could create a workout on the connect site to do that for your bike exercise.

Create the workout with a warm up, main part and then a cool down. You can go through each stage by pressing the lap button.

coL

I want to keep the warm up and the cool down as separate files on connect/strava so that I can compare my averages. Would creating a workout do this or would it save it all as a single file?

There are probably easier ways to do it than the way I do. I need to look into it in more detail.

Tigerandahalf

coL wrote: »

I want to keep the warm up and the cool down as separate files on connect/strava so that I can compare my averages. Would creating a workout do this or would it save it all as a single file?

There are probably easier ways to do it than the way I do. I need to look into it in more detail.

It would all be in the one workout and you could see lap split times/speeds for the warmup and cooldown. Not in separate files though.

Only issue though is that the watch doesn't allow you to have runs set for miles and bike sessions for kms. It only allows for one global setting - the watch is in either kms or miles.

Not a problem for traiathlons/duathlons as they are marked in km (people probably train to km paces) but road running is mostly in mile paces and thus you may need to change the setting on your watch before the workout.

coL

I was messing around with my 735 last night and created a custom multi sport session with three cycle legs. If it works like the usual multi sport session it will hopefully save these as three separate files. Will let you know if it works.

Have been doing everything in KM for a good while now so not a problem for me.

fletch

I just use the "Other" profile with 2 data pages, one set up with running specific data and the other for cycle metrics. Hit the lap button at each transition. Works well but it is considered a cycle/ride by GC/Strava which skews my stats as I don't get credit for the run sections of adventure races/triathlons. I think an upgrade to a 735XT is imminent for me. A bit frustrating though as the hardware in the 235 & 735 looks identical so I would say a firmware upgrade to the 235 could give the multi sport features of the 735...but that's never going to happen.
I did download an app from the Connect IQ store for triathlons but it was fairly flaky when I tested it.