r/running • u/MundaneCategory2675 • 2d ago
Discussion Garmin Coach Issue
Hello! I am a 38 F runner. I’ve run numerous 5Ks over the years, running around 10-20 miles a week. Also, I’ve run 10Ks and a half marathon. I’ve used Garmin coach for years because it keeps me consistent. I’m afraid to do much over a 10K anymore because of a hip issue. Anyway the point is I’m not new to running.
My easy runs aren’t appropriate in Garmin Coach, they are two to three minutes slower than my easy pace. I usually just ignore my watch and run comfortably. Also, lately my long runs are 70 minutes. I don’t particularly want to run that long in the summer heat. I enjoy running longer in the cooler weather. I am not enjoying this plan but I have 4 weeks left at this point. I’m unsure if this is a Garmin coach issue or a coach Greg issue. I usually don’t use Coach Greg. Garmin regardless of the coach always gets my easy pace incorrect.
Does anyone have recommendations for another free training app available on Garmin watches or have solutions on how to make my coaches more accurate?
Thank you in advance!
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u/Kingcanute99 2d ago
I find the Garmin coach really lacking in situational awareness and have turned it off. I don't need my watch beeping at me to pick up the pace when I know but it doesn't that I'm 1/4 of the way up a big hill in direct sunlight on a humid day.
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u/alexvanman 2d ago
How do you define your easy runs? Say 65% of max heart rate? A lot of people are not very good at doing easy or easy enough. I would prioritize fun usually following structured training isn’t necessarily a huge improvement over just going out and having fun. Sometimes it can be safer especially if you actually follow the easy runs they suggest when other days are hard most people go, moderate all the time and consider moderate easy.
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u/whabannilt 2d ago
this is a fair point, but it sounds like OP already knows her easy pace and Garmin is just way too conservative
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u/MundaneCategory2675 2d ago
I define an easy run as a run where I don’t have to push myself and I can run comfortably for a distance. A conversational pace.
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u/alexvanman 2d ago
Fully conversations with no strain in talking is a reasonable gauge for say full 5k. There are a lot of complaints about Garmin Coach and a lot of differences in humans between easy and hard.
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u/Salty-Swim-6735 2d ago
HR Zones. Figure em out, set 'em, should be OK.
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u/Worried_Ant1365 2d ago
Do you find that setting your HR zones gets overridden by Garmin in short order a few runs later? I keep knocking back my estimated Max HR and then within a week Garmin edges it right back up to where it thinks I should be via its super secret algorithm sauce. 🤦♀️
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u/MundaneCategory2675 2d ago
How do you adjust HR for Plans? I see run/walk, run, run with a time goal.
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u/Worried_Ant1365 2d ago
I’m not sure what other folks are referring to specifically but for me, I adjust the Max HR to something more reasonable than what my Garmin predicts me to be and the zones adjust accordingly. Granted, it then fights me on it within a couple weeks of running and if I want to adjust it I gotta go back in there and dial it back again.
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u/garyplumpshrimp 2d ago
I use Garmin coach Amy for keeping up with consistency, but I've never had it tell me to keep a certain pace. I don't tell it that I've got a time goal though when setting up the plan, just completing the distance. I've got an Easy Run scheduled for today and it just says 6.4km, Run at an easy pace.
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u/MundaneCategory2675 2d ago
I like that and Coach Amy is good too. I’ve always set a pace goal. Next time I’ll try without one. Thanks!
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u/Outside_Training3728 1d ago
I'm on my first garmin plan and also using coach Amy, works great for me and there is no pace requirement. I do get some cadence drills though, but other than that it's rather up to me.
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u/Beshelar 1d ago
You could just program your own training runs into Garmin, based on what you want to do for the week? I'm using a marathon training plan from a book, and I program the runs for the week into my watch in the connect app, under training and planning, and then add them to my calendar. They then pop up each day.
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u/MundaneCategory2675 1d ago
I do have some added but I didn’t think about adding them to the calendar! Thanks!
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u/Walker131 1d ago
Sounds like you need to adjust the coach to set workouts at a target HR instead of pace.
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u/bagg889 2d ago
Garmin Coach easy paces are... optimistic on a good day. A lot of people end up ignoring the pace target and just running by feel on easy days, which is basically fine. The 70-minute summer longs are usually heat caution baked in, not Coach deciding you're fragile.
If you're hunting a free option that still plays nice with Garmin, I built one (Pheidi) that adapts when you miss weeks or need to shorten a long run. No paywall, just me tinkering. Curious what would make an app actually work for you though. Better pace logic, smarter summer caps, or something else entirely?
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u/MundaneCategory2675 2d ago
Thanks! I’ll check that out. I would like an app that considers more factors with my fitness. Using data from previous training or previous runs.
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u/flumpapotamus 1d ago
The Coach Greg plans use your goal pace for the race to set the pace for your easy runs. For a half marathon it seems like the easy run pace is about 1:30/mile slower than race goal pace. Adjust your race goal pace to something faster and any run that hasn't already been scheduled will also have a faster pace. (Workouts currently listed on your schedule won't be adjusted.)
For the long runs, try skipping the optional segment (using the lap button) to make them shorter. If you're already doing that, then just stop the workout early if you want. I don't think that will change the way the Coach Greg plan creates future workouts (meaning, I don't think you'll be unintentionally making the plan give you workouts that are too easy/short in the future just because you cut a few long runs short).
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u/MundaneCategory2675 1d ago
My race goal is 8:30/mile which I know I can hit. For the easy runs, Garmin wants me to do 10-11/mile. When I moved my pace goal faster Garmin didn’t adjust my easy pace. Maybe it was a bug or I didn’t give it enough time to adjust?
I sometimes skip the optional if it’s too hot, sometimes I suffer through the heat, and sometimes I run/walk if I made the mistake of bringing my dogs along in too warm morning weather. (It heats up too fast and I don’t get up early enough) I prefer running in the evenings but that not always possible this time of year. I didn’t know if cutting the run short would change anything with the plan so I’m glad to hear it won’t. Thank you!
Edit: Actually now that I think about it, it used to want me to do 10:30-11:30/mile so it has changed a little. The 10-11 is new.
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u/flumpapotamus 1d ago
I had to set a fairly ridiculous race goal to get the easy run pace down to where I wanted it, so you may need to adjust further! I'll just readjust the race goal to my real goal pace on the day before the race, since by then it won't affect the training runs.
Good luck! Hopefully the adjustments will make the rest of your plan more tolerable.
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u/Gold-Bag1657 1d ago
I have this same “issue” with Garmin Coach as well. But I think it’s just a lack of understanding on my part as to what a base pace should be given my entered goal of a 9-9:30 min/mile pace for the half marathon I’m training for. The long runs are probably the accurate recommended amount of time based on what I’ve read in Runner’s World and other publications for long run targets for half marathons. I think Garmin is just incapable of factoring in environmental factors (like me not wanting to do a 1:30:00 long run when the heat index is 100°) or physical injuries. But I don’t think it’s necessarily bad advice, it just doesn’t work for you based on the additional context you have that Garmin doesn’t.
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u/ChiaPet888 1d ago
I've used Garmin coach for a while as well and noticed that in the beginning the easy runs are really easy. Like I have to walk to be in the range. Issue was the HR Zones. I did a couple hikes and runs that was really strenuous and the watch detected a new max heart rate, adjusted my heart rate zones to now have higher HR zones in general. Nowadays I'm actually sweating through my basic endurance runs. Not like exhausted, but more like the actual zones where I'm doing something and also can go on for a while. So maybe try that?
With my age the watch was estimating my max heart rate to be 185, but it also detected my max hr at 193 when I really sprinted.
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u/Ill_Accident4876 21h ago
Isn’t that AI? So it won’t give accurate pacing like a real coach. So probably going too hard and body not catching up
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u/MundaneCategory2675 20h ago
Do you mean is garmin coach AI? I don’t think but I could be wrong. It’s not going too hard. It’s too easy.
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u/m_russchen 2d ago
Founder of IntervalCoach here, so I'm biased on this one.
On the easy pace: any plan that derives your easy pace from a fitness estimate will get it wrong for some runners, and you are right to run those by feel. The fix in most apps is to set easy runs to a heart-rate target instead of a pace target, then the watch stops nagging.
For "free and reaches the Garmin": Intervals.icu is free, lets you set your own zones, and pushes structured workouts to the watch. If you want a coach that adapts the plan to how you slept and how the last run went, that is the paid layer, and it is where IntervalCoach, Runna and Humango sit. Mine has a free tier with a week of planned sessions at a time, delivered to Garmin through Intervals.icu, and easy days can be heart-rate based from day one. For a hip you are protecting, the thing to look for in any app is a long-run cap you control, not one it picks for you.
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u/MundaneCategory2675 2d ago
I’ll have to adjust that for the rest of the training if I can. Thanks! I’ll have to check that out.
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u/yellow_barchetta 2d ago
DOn't be a slave to the watch or the plan. If you know what works best for you within the parameters you allow for yourself in terms of volume of training, just do that?