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How to merge Garmin's training effect with your Peloton workout data

2020-12-20 by @renschler
Last Updated: 2021-09-30

*SyncMyWorkout is not affiliated with Peloton or Garmin

If you are an advanced Garmin user, you've probably been looking for a way to combine the training load metrics your watch generates with your Peloton workout data. This is now possible with a SyncMyWorkout membership.

Screenshot of Peloton ride in Garmin Connect with training effect metrics

How it works

First, make sure things are turned on by checking the box (found in the Garmin section on the account settings page).

Screenshot of checkbox for turning this feature on

Strava

As of 3/9/21 this merging feature no longer requires Strava (but it is strongly recommended).

If you have Strava linked to SyncMyWorkout, then you'll also need:

  1. Peloton set to auto-upload your activities to Strava
  2. Garmin set to auto-upload your activities to Strava

Recording your activity

When you do a Peloton workout, you need to record it as an activity on your watch. You need to start your watch within +/- 2 min of the peloton activity start time, and stop it within +/- 2 min of the peloton activity stop time in order for SyncMyWorkout to recognize the watch recording as a match with the peloton activity,

When you finish your workout, if you have Strava linked to SyncMyWorkout, then SyncMyWorkout will wait for Strava to receive both your Peloton recording and your watch recording. When both copies make it to Strava, SyncMyWorkout will extract the training effect data from your watch recording, add it to the Peloton data, and then upload the merged activity to Garmin.

On the SyncMyWorkout account page, under the Strava section, you'll find a dropdown selector that let's you configure how long you want Strava to wait for your watch recording to show up. Screenshot of Strava waiting period setting If your waiting period expires before the watch recording shows up, then SyncMyWorkout will proceed with the upload without merging things. The default wait period is 15 minutes. If you typically don't sync your watch right away after your workout you'll probably want to set the wait period to be something longer.

Strava occassionally blocks Garmin or Peloton from posting their recording of the activity to Strava because it gets flagged as a duplicate of the other recording. I've found it's best to start your watch during the 1 min countdown period before the workout, and then stop your watch a few seconds after the workout ends. This way the two recordings are not identical in start time and length.

If you don't have Strava linked to SyncMyWorkout, SyncMyWorkout looks once an hour for new peloton workouts. If it finds a workout, it will check your Garmin account to see if you have a matching watch recording. If a match is found, it will be merged and uploaded, otherwise the workout will be uploaded without merging. There is no waiting period when you don't have Strava connected so some of your syncs will happen before the watch recording becomes available.

Duplicate activities

With the merge feature turned on, you'll end up with 2 copies of workout in Garmin - one watch recording, and one recording from SyncMyWorkout.

Don't delete the watch recording in Garmin until the SyncMyWorkout version comes through because it's needed for merging!

There is a feature checkbox (under the Garmin connction details) for auto-deleting the watch recording after it get's merged with a peloton upload.

Screenshot of checkbox for auto-deleting watch recording

If you are using Strava, you'll also end up with 2 copies of each ride in Strava (one watch recording, and one Peloton-to-Strava recording). The same rule applies, you'll need to avoid the temptation to delete either of these recordings in Strava until your SyncMyWorkout ride appears in Garmin.

El fin

That's it. I'm excited to get this out there.

If you have any questions/feedback/suggestions drop me an email!

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