Performance condition not showing - Garmin 745
 

Does anyone know if Garmin pushed out an update to their Forerunner devices? I have the Forerunner 745 that I also use to track my bike rides. The watch used to tell me my performance condition within 20mins of my ride. Lately through the watch doesn't tell me anything at all. I do get performance condition for my ride when the ride is uploaded to Garmin Connect. But I do not get the status of my performance condition when I start my ride displaying on my watch.

Any ideas what's going on? Thank you.

My Fenix doesn't do it every ride, or if it does I miss the notification sometimes.

Performance condition is a data field, you can add it to a screen and see it in real time. Garmin says the purpose is that the number should fall off a cliff before you bonk, so you can avoid the pain by limping home when it starts to drop. You already know the watch is calculating so that won't really narrow anything down, but it'll make the data available when you want it. (Still takes 10+ minutes to get a read though.)

Some of those things Garmin shows you or doesn't show you at the end of a ride are based on the ride length. I don't know if that is though. But things like when to ask about bottles and Calories consumed is something you can change in the settings.

Any time I have odd things happening after an update, I do a reset and sometimes that seems to get everything working as expected.

I think it has to do with intensity as well. If I'm doing a very easy recovery ride, likely my Forerunner 945 would never show it but if I'm doing a regular interval session then it'll beep and tell me my current performance condition within the first 5-10 minutes.

But the notification is just a part of it, it can be a constant data field as @Seattle Forrest said.

Thanks folks. Good input/feedback. I did some searching of the Garmin forums too. Seems like there is some kind of threshold that needs to be covered before telling me my performance condition. What threshold is though is up for debate. I was working pretty hard in my ride yesterday and zilch. No reporting on the watch. When I saved my ride the performance condition was reported. But nothing in advance of the ride. Adding the data field might be the way to go.

Iride01 Doesn't a reset erase any of your records/training history?

Because I'm over 40 now 😡 I have a page set up on my watch to show me the "cost" of what I'm doing. I think that makes me a decent rider is being able to ignore it in the moment, and then the next day I can feel sluggish. So I've got it showing some metrics about how much I'm putting in and what it's taking out of me. Performance condition and intensity factor are neighbors because they tell a similar story. I'm also showing things like TSS, and the aerobic/anaerobic TE split. None of this is perfect, just like driving your car under the speed limit doesn't guarantee you won't hit anything, but it's good at a glance info to point me in the right direction.

​​​​​​You know I've heard different people say different things about what it's "for" and I don't know how much Garmin has clarified. I've heard people say they've had days when they felt off but ran or rode well and that thing gave them a better idea what to expect during their event. I've also read DCR (I think?) say you should be able to watch it in real time like an early warning system for bonking.

Similar to their VO2Max estimate, Performance Condition appears to be based on the relationship between heart rate and power output, and is also "gameable" the same way - doing low cadence intervals, which tend to result in lower heart rates compared to high cadence intervals at the same power, typically make the Garmin think that you're doing better, and reports a higher Performance Condition score.

Well, at least that's applicable for short term stuff. In the longer term (e.g. several hours or longer), that HR-to-Power comparison can become more relevant and indicate fatigue or early bonking warning system, since generally as you get more tired your HR is likely to be higher for the same power output, in relation to how you were at the beginning of the ride.

I am starting to wonder if my old HRM is somehow incompatible with the calculation of the performance condition. Which sounds ridiculous because at the end of my ride, when I am looking at my ride metrics I see the PC graph. I am going to experiment today and leave my chest HRM at home and go off the wrist based HRM of the 745.

If the chest strap HRM though is not the cause of the PC not reporting on my 745 within the first 20ish minutes of my ride I'm stumped. I guess I'll just have to learn to live without it.

On Garmin Edges and some of their other devices there are two different types of reset. One does and one doesn't. You probably should get on Garmin's site and search for resetting the Forerunner 745 and be sure.

On my Edge 530, if I hold the power button for >10 seconds, it'll keep the user data and settings. I have to go into the setting to clear everything. Different Garmin's might require different button or buttons to be pushed/held.

Whelp. Still no luck. The Performance Condition isn't popping up during my activity. Oh well. I guess I can live with it. I hoped the recent update to the 745 would solve the issue, but nope.

For what it's worth, this didn't come up on yesterday's ride, but still showed on the watch as a data field. The few rides before yesterday's all had a performance condition alert.

And today boom! PC came up during my ride. Go figure. The only thing that I've done differently is a) sync my watch with the Garmin mobile app. I don't keep my watch connected to my phone all day long. I only sync it at various times throughout the day and b) added the data field to my riding profile. 'Tis a mystery...

I don't think it has anything to do with when you last synced or anything, I think your ride has to meet certain conditions over the first 10 to 15 minutes for it to calculate. Don't know what those are, though. :o

Performance Condition message came up during your ride? Maybe I'm confused as to what PC is, but mine only comes up after I stop the timer. Did you stop the timer briefly during the ride by mistake? (not the auto-pause).

Seattle Forrest Yea, you might be on to something there because during my ride yesterday, no PC during ride. Oh well. I guess it will remain a mystery.

Iride01 Yeah, PC comes during the first 15 - 20mins of the ride to give you a report on your status. But it seems to be coming up intermittently, so that's what I was trying to figure out.

That's what we've been talking about this entire time.

TMK, I only get a performance message at the end of my ride with the Edge. So apparently the Forerunner does something else.

Just for my curiosity, what is that message telling you? Why is it useful prior to completing your activity?

No alert on my lunch ride today, the data calculated and is there in Connect, it says my VO2max is up a point. I'm pretty exhaustified and no doubt glycogen depleted from all the fun I've been having all week.

Literally every question you just asked has already been answered in detail in this thread, and we're still on page one. :foo: For what is worth I've never used a Forerunner.

Okay, thanks, I'll scroll back up and see.

Whelp I give up. I cannot get PC to come up with any regularity. Since my post above, PC has not come up again. When/If it comes up during my ride I'll be happy and enjoy it. When it does not, I'll settle for checking on PC when I upload my ride to Garmin Connect and see what it had to say.

My laptop died a few weeks ago and I've been accessing the forum from a smart phone ever since. Typing can take so long. 😉

I'd say add it as a data field.