TL;DR

SyncMyWorkout's merge feature lets you combine a garmin watch recording with a completed peloton activity. As a result, you end up with a single activity in garmin connect with metrics from both sources.

The merge feature does make SyncMyWorkout more complicated, so if you don't care about the merging behavior described below it's totally fine to keep the feature off.

If you want the most data possible in Garmin, turn on SyncMyWorkout's merge feature and the auto-delete feature so that you don't get two copies of the same activity in garmin connect. These features are toggled by checkboxes found in the garmin section of the settings page.

When you do a peloton workout, record a watch activity and make sure that activity starts/ends within +/- 2 min of the peloton workout start/end time. SyncMyWorkout will then automatically combine the two activities, upload the combined activity to garmin connect, and delete the duplicate watch recording from garmin connect.

What extra data do you get with the merge feature?

SyncMyWorkout will align and combine the time series stats from your peloton activity and watch recording. The time series stats are the metrics that are collected every second during your workout; the ones that you can see graphed over time (for example: heart rate, power, speed, cadence).

Below are screenshots of peloton workouts that were merged with garmin watch recordings and then uploaded to garmin connect. The charts outlined in pink were extracted from the watch recording and would not have been available without the merge feature.

The metric types that can be extracted from the watch recording will depend on what kind of workout you complete and also what features your watch supports. For example, if you complete a peloton tread workout while wearing a running-dynamics compatible garmin device, SyncMyWorkout can extract cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, left/right balance, stride length, and run/walk detection time series.

If the peloton workout and watch recordings ever have the same metric types, the following logic is applied: when both sources have power/speed data, the peloton's power/speed data is used instead of the watch's; when both sources have heart rate data, the watch's heart rate data is used.

During a merge operation, the following summary metrics will also be extracted from the watch recording if they are available:

• nutrition & hydration
• respiration rate
• stamina
• running dynamics and run/walk detection
• self evaluation
• body battery
• training effect*
• intensity minutes**

* As of April 2023, Garmin will now calculate Training Effect when SyncMyWorkout uploads Peloton ride workouts without needing the merge feature! This Training Effect score is generated using your HR and cycling power, so it is more accurate than what you would have gotten from your watch recording alone. If you are having issues receiving a Training Effect score from your Peloton rides without the merge feature, please reach out to our support team and we'll help you troubleshoot. (link to Garmin's Training Effect FAQ)

** There are two ways to earn intensity minutes without the merge feature: (A) if you pair a garmin HRM-Pro chest strap to the Peloton, and you sync your HRM-Pro with the garmin app on your phone after your workout, Garmin will assign intensity minutes to your workout even if you didn't record things with your watch and use the merge feature. (B) If you broadcast your heartrate from your Garmin watch to the Peloton during your workout, Garmin will assign intensity minutes to your workout even if you didn't record things with your watch and use the merge feature. (link to Garmin's intensity minutes FAQ)

Requirements

If you do want to use the feature, there are a few requirements that must be met for it to work properly:

1. The feature must be turned on. The Garmin section of the settings page has a checkbox that toggles the feature on/off.
2. The watch recording and peloton workout must be considered matches. To be a match, the watch recording has to start within +/- 2 min of the peloton workout's start time, and the total elapsed time of the watch recording has to be within +/- 4 min of the peloton workout's elapsed time.
3. The watch recording must be available in Garmin Connect when SyncMyWorkout goes looking for a match for the peloton workout. If you have Strava connected to SyncMyWorkout this is less of a concern because SyncMyWorkout will wait (for a set amount of time*) for your watch recording to make it to Strava. However, without Strava, SyncMyWorkout checks your peloton account once per hour, and if it finds a new Peloton workout it will check your Garmin account right away for a matching watch recording. If a match isn't found because the watch recording hasn't been uploaded to Garmin yet, the workout will be uploaded without merging. We recommend that you pair your watch with your home wifi network so that it can upload recordings to Garmin Connect as soon as possible after your workout is complete without needing to open the Garmin app on your phone.

* When you have the merge feature turned on and Strava connected to SyncMyWorkout, you can configure how long you want SyncMyWorkout to wait for a matching watch recording to make it to Strava (the default is 5 minutes). You'll find this setting in the Strava section of the SyncMyWorkout settings page.

If you have the merge feature on but you forget to record things with your watch, this is not a problem. SyncMyWorkout will still automatically upload your peloton workout to Garmin Connect.

How does the merge feature's auto-delete option work?

When you have the merge feature checkbox enabled, you can enable an additional checkbox labeled "delete watch recording after merged upload".

It's generally recommended that you turn this feature on.

When enabled, SyncMyWorkout will delete the watch recording from your Garmin Connect account if (and only if) it has been merged with a Peloton workout.

Can the merge feature use the laps from my watch recording?

Yes! When you have the merge feature enabled, there is an additional checkbox labeled "Preserve laps from watch recording during merge".

With this checked, SyncMyWorkout will use the lap timestamps from your watch recording in the final merged upload (for runs, walks, bikes, and rows). This also means that if you were following structured workout on your watch, those intervals would take precedence over the peloton workout's intervals in the final merged upload.

Other things to note

• Strava's API does not support deleting activities, so SyncMyWorkout can't delete your duplicate recording from Strava. You'll have to manually delete it yourself.
• SyncMyWorkout doesn't delete the watch recording from your watch. This means the merged version of the activity that is in Garmin Connect (the copy that contains distance, speed, power, etc) will not be synced down to your watch; your watch thinks it is a duplicate of the recording that you made with the watch. This isn't necessarily a problem - you still get credit for everything. If you want the version of the activity that is in Garmin Connect to be sent down to your watch, you have two options:
  • Don't use the merge feature. The downside with this approach is that you'll miss out on the stats that only your watch can generate (respiration rate; stamina, etc..) but you would still get Training Effect and Cycling VO2 max (as long as the peloton has your HR data).
  • If you record a watch activity and sync it to Garmin after your workout; you could then immediately delete it off your watch (but don't delete it from garmin connect!). If you are fast enough and do this before SyncMyWorkout has a chance to upload the merged workout, then that new merged version of the activity will be sent down to your watch when it gets posted to Garmin.

If you have any further questions about this feature, don't hesitate to reach out to our support team!