TRaining Effect from Garmin FIT files?

Hi,
I have a garmin watch at the cheap end of the range (Venu Sq) and it doesn’t report training effect, which, supposedly, is a measure of how effective your workout was in terms of aerobic fitness. There’s also an anaerbic effect as well. Although the watch doesn’t report the number, it does record it to the FIT file for some reason and I can see that in runalyze.

It would be cool if I could also see the two training effects and recovery time in intervals as well.

I had a look at fit files for a recent ride and walk of yours and didn’t see training effect etc in in the files. I don’t know if that is something you can enable somehow? If so I can easily add custom fields for those. Maybe you could install a Connect IQ app to do it?

1 Like

Don’t know specifically for the OP’s wath but it must be in the FIT file somewhere because this is what I’m getting with Gotoes:

@david: if you want a fit file that has those field, just let me know.

Thanks. I assume that the Training Effect is stored in every fit file by default because every activity that gets slurped from Garmin by runalyze shows a Training Effect. I’ve googled to see if there are any clues as to where the TE is stored but drew a blank. :frowning: VO2max and Recovery Time are also hiding in there.

The people at Gotoes and runalyze must know. :slight_smile:

OK. After much squinting at the runalyze fit file viewer I found the training effect.
It is in message (is that the word) = TYPE=12 NUMBER=140 and is called unknown4
and shows TE*10
so my TE for my walk was 1.6 so unknown4=16
and in another file the TE was 3.1 so unknown4=31

The recovery time is unknown9=643 minutes

But what do I do with this now that I know where it is?

= TYPE=12 NUMBER=140
— timestamp=1042691552=2023-01-15T04:32:32Z
— unknown2=888827=888827
— unknown3=1067837=1067837
— unknown5=385034=385034
— unknown6=7995640=7995640
— unknown7=653276=653276
— xxx24=1526416=1526416
— xxx26=1067837=1067837
— xxx27=655715=655715
— xxx28=655715=655715
— xxx29=653276=653276
— xxx32=33558777=33558777
— xxx35=1801556=1801556
— xxx36=168413=168413
— xxx37=1067837=1067837
— xxx38=0=0
— xxx39=1067837=1067837
— xxx40=0=0
— xxx48=1042729352=1042729352
— unknown9=643=643
— unknown10=61431=61431
— xxx43=0=0
— xxx44=0=0
— xxx45=0=0
— xxx55=196=196
— unknown0=141=141
— unknown1=0=0
— unknown4=16=16
— unknown8=9=9
— unknown11=11=11
— unknown12=0=0
— unknown13=0=0
— xxx20=0=0
— xxx22=5=5
— xxx23=0=0
— xxx25=39=39
— xxx30=-100=-100
— xxx31=-1=-1
— xxx33=0=0
— xxx34=1=1
— xxx41=1=1
— xxx46=2=2
— xxx51=1=1
— xxx52=0=0
— xxx56=7=7

I will generalise the custom activity field fit mapping to support any message, not just session messages tonight. Then it will be possible to map these.

3 Likes

I have added a “Training Effect” field mapped to message 140 field 4 with a script to divide by 10. I added this to your walk on the 15th.

More info here:

2 Likes

Thanks so much @david . I managed to get recoverytime and trainingeffect in another activity by following your instructions!! For anyone else wanting to do this…don’t forget to reprocess the file when you add a custom field and then you may have to refresh the page in the browser to see the result.

1 Like

I having a lovely time geeking out of the list view of my activities…all those numbers!
I’ve just realised that by adding the custom field to one activity of a particular type that updates them all and I just have to reprocess from file to see all the values. Yay!
I’ve made myself a lovely little chart where I can see how many of my workouts had a TE > 3.0 which is supposed to be the threshold for “improving”… Yay again!

3 Likes

There’s a field called “Total_Training_Effect”, that I have added in the custom fields.
It’s not the same as the Aerobic Effect and Anaerobic Effect custom fields.
I have a FR 735XT, so it doesn’t have the aforementioned fields, but it does report on this field.
Hope this helps.

Look on your Garmin summary page, and find the fields you want in Intervals.
Then upload the field to FitFileViewer and see what the field is called.


image
image

Unfortunately, I have a Venu Sq, which is a “health and wellness” watch. When I bought it, all I knew was I wanted GPS and VO2Max and had no idea about anything else.
So it doesn’t report Training Effect in any form, total or otherwise, but it secretly writes the final aerobic and anaerobic training effects in the FIT file hidden under the name unknown4.

Hi, i can not see your “Training Effect” field. Do you have any idea why?

You have to activate the corresponding field


and your Garmin watch/or training device must be able to record and send the data.
For example
grafik

Where is the corresponding field?

strong text

You will find the field with the Fitfile Viewer

Hallo Toni,
ich weiß nicht, ob es mit meiner Mailantwort geklappt hat, daher hier nochmal

Hallo Toni,
ich probier mal😉
In einer Aktivität öffnest Du unter >benutzerdefiniert die Aktivitätsfelder.
Wenn Du da auf die Lupe klickst, kommst Du zum Feld von Povedano > Training Effect.
Dieses Feld erscheint dann in deiner Aktivität und wird von deinem Garmin (wenn er es kann) gefüllt.
Mit dem fitfileviewer kannst Du eine Aktivität (Garmin fitfile) öffnen und in der vorletzten Zeile nach deinen Werten suchen.

Gruß
Jürgen

grafik

Click on an activity in the list in your home page.
Then click on custom in the bottom right hand corner.
Then the magnifying glass with “field” written next to it.
Type “effect” into the search field and then you’ll see a bunch of custom fields.
Try Povedano’s Aerobic Effect and Anaerobic Effect first.
You need to reprocess the file when you add new fields.
Go to Actions in the bottom right hand corner and choose “Reprocess File” from the list. (3rd from the bottom)
If that doesn’t work try my Training Effect and Anaerobic Training Effect which work for watches that don’t have the total_training_effect fields in their fit files. It also works for at least one that does have that field too.

I have it. I search under “field”. But it is under “user field”

1 Like