Setting Up Your Garmin for Focused Workouts

Congrats to Garmin for having their brand associated with ALL bike computers much like Coke is to soda.

Let’s face it, when you are training, you are not going to float from screen to screen to look at a ton of data while you ride. So, we try to get up one single screen with only the data you need to complete the training session on it. This can vary a little depending on the goal of the workout, but less is more in our opinion.

Some computers will have more or less options for data fields but the ones you really want to look at during a session are universal.

How to Alter Your Data Fields On…



Garmin 1000


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Garmin 920XT


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Garmin 500


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Garmin 520


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Request A Tutorial


Give us a shout on the members only Facebook page and let us know you need help changing the data fields on your computer.

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Optimal Data Fields For…



Training With Power


Your single screen data fields should be:

Indoor

  1. Lap Time
  2. 3 Second Power
  3. Lap Power (Or Lap Average Power)
  4. Cadence

Outdoor

Add Speed as a 5th Data Field
If you are doing distance based power intervals, replace Lap Time with Lap Distance (don’t worry about time)

Pro Tip

Tape your power zones to your top tube so you don’t need to mess with adding Power Zone as a data field. Garmin’s zone ranges don’t always match up to a typical 6 or 7 zone set up.

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Training With Heart Rate


Your single screen data fields should be:

Indoor

  1. Lap Time
  2. Heart Rate (Instantaneous)
  3. Lap Heart Rate (Or Lap Average HR)
  4. Cadence

Outdoor

Add Speed as a 5th Data Field
If you are doing distance based intervals, replace Lap Time with Lap Distance (don’t worry about time)

Pro Tip

Tape your heart rate zones to your top tube so you don’t need to mess with adding Heart Rate Zone as a data field. Garmin’s zone ranges don’t always match up to typical zone ranges.

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Training With Perceived Exertion


Your single screen data fields should be:

Indoor

  1. Lap Time
  2. Lap Distance (if you have a speed sensor)
  3. Lap Speed (if you have a speed sensor)
  4. Cadence (if you have a cadence sensor)

Outdoor

Same as above as long as you have a GPS enabled computer

Pro Tip

Tape a message to your top tube like “Shut Up Legs” or “I Must Break You”

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