UKH

Hi All,

I recently picked up a garmin enduro on the "cheap". I've been trying to do the daily suggested workouts instead of radomly doing my own thing and see how it effects my performance.

Have any of you tried this and had success?

Furthermore, my aim is to do a few ultra runs next year, can you tell the thing to tailor the training towards that? This thing has got loads of features so trying to get my head around it.

Cheers

Glenn

I don’t know the answer but you and I are in the identical position with nearly the same watch and goal for the coming year… so I’m following with anticipation! 

I have turned off the suggestions. They seem to be aimed at general fitness rather than endurance running. Also, a small variation in temperature changes the 'effect' of the run so much that in winter you are pushed and pushed, but in the summer the opposite is true. Look up a plan based on feel and stick to that.

Just be careful to use a hrm strap rather than wrist HR. Wrist HR is so unacceptable that it'll list my ready runs as anaerobic and interval sessions as easy when it mucks up the HR... With consequences for vo2max and following sessions...

Definitely this!

Which ones would ypou reccomend that doesnt break the bank?

Polar make the best hrm’s, I got a h10, it should be compatible with most watches with Bluetooth 

I've had a variety of makes. The ones I would recommend would be a polar one. 

I have the h10, which is expensive, but it's still going about 4 years after I bought it. I expect it to carry on worrying for a lot longer. All my polar stuff has lasted. Expensive initially, but per year good value.

Suunto and garmin break a bit too easily IMHO. The suunto broke religiously each year. The garmin I had rusted! Rusted! But more recently I've hear reports of them just failing electronically. 

Wahoo are good but have a different strap that's hard to get hold of. 

Interesting, I’ve not used a chest strap for years and my recent wrist based doodad is the first time I’ve used one of them. Most runs seem to tally with gut feel in terms of max and average HR, but I’ve been surprised by the occasional max values when I’ve properly tried. They seem pretty high for 57 year old bloke that’s always pigeonholed themselves as a ‘low beater’. Pinch of salt?

Getting duff HR readings from the optical sensor, crazy high values at jogging paces, is a real pain when you pay any attention to your training load. I got to the stage where I was prepared to lose the recorded run and replace it with a manual entry only to find that deleting the run on the watch did not delete its impact on the training load score - really crap data handling from Garmin. If you find yourself without your HR strap the best solution seems to be setting Trail Run mode to avoid screwing VO2 data, but I have not tried this yet so can't verify this... 

Although newer models have trail run affect vo2 max too

Def. Pinch of salt. 

Sprint sessions can get confused between cadence and HR. 

I try to use the HR strap for any speed or faster sessions. 

HR in the pool / open water is pretty random too... 

Fair enough. My Fenix optical HR seems mostly ok but sometimes gibberish. Tonight’s trying-but-not-crazy trail run gave a brief 210 max which is definitely nonsense. Maybe it was around the time I managed a hummingbird like cadence of 231?

This works, but on a Garmin you can turn VO2 Max off for any session in the run profile too.

In my experience optical are okay for endurance work but crap if you are doing intervals since there is always a lag in picking up changes in heartbeat. It also fails badly for anything where you are using your forearms a lot.  From various reviews I have read the more serious studies seem to support that.

I am not convinced by Garmins guesses at training load though since it doesnt seem to take into account the conditions you are exercising under. I mostly run in the flatlands so have sod all elevation when doing 5k.  Went up to the lake district for a week and did 5k in the evening I got there at which point it told me I was either unproductive or detraining. Personally I have a sneaky suspicion it didnt account for the *20 elevation gain plus some far harder terrain.

That said would be tricky to do so. So for me I just take it as a vague guide and if it jumps into the red start thinking twice.

For reliability of the devices though I cant complain about garmin. My fenix 5 regularly gets dunked in water, occasionally in salt water, plus various other fun and games and has held up for several years as has all its predecessors.

You can turn off optical heart rate monitor altogether. 
 

I use it with a chest strap exclusively, the optical one just doesn’t work on my hairy arms. 

I would tend to agree that the optical sensor on Garmin watches isn’t that accurate. A cheap HR strap that’s got Bluetooth and ANT is all you need - high end brand ones are good but so are the cheap ones from Amazon. 
 

On the suggested workouts, it’s all based around your training history and the balance between aerobic, high aerobic and anaerobic workouts. If you’re new to structured training and ultra distance running is your objective, I’d recommend Scott Johnston’s book - Uphill Athlete, as it really helps you understand how to best manage training load in a sustainable way. It also has information on HR zones and how to train in them, which is useful for when your testing out you’re new shiny HR strap. 
 

Good luck! 
Sam