I’m sure this has been beat to death but hey I’m new here, looked and the last I found was something in 2023. Here is goes
uploaded zwift rides including heart rate and intensity minutes, elevation…etc. don’t count in garmin fitness calculations like VO2 max, intensity minutes…etc. What does everyone do in this case? I’ve seen the past threads say just record on the garmin device and then delete the garmin activity to keep the fitness calculations, or disconnect the zwift uploads from garmin and record on the garmin device to keep things kind of “garmin pure” but you don’t get distance and elevation data, which, it’s an indoor trainer so the data is kind of …estmated? What is the zwift/garmin community’s solution to this?
I also opened a ticket with garmin as I can’t be the only one that is a little annoyed that this is happening?
What gives?
I might be misunderstanding your question, but at least for owners of newer Garmin devices, Zwift data do show on Garmin Connect and count for things like VO2Max and intensity minutes. Distances might be slightly different than on Zwift, and I don’t pay enough attention to elevation to know how that works. As far as I know, the only big disconnect is that metrics don’t count for purposes of earning Garmin badges. (Some threads discuss work-arounds involving editing the input files. I’ve never cared enough to try.)
My 965 is a year old and the metrics dont import. Also spent a hour on the phone w garmin and confirmed this is normal. Work around is to record on both zwift and garmin just don’t import/export to garmin. Missing is the elevation and distance(?) Which can be edited in but dont know that i care about that. Does tacx, a garmin product, have the same limitations? If so garmin is trying to influence sale of their products…
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Hi @Rick_Thomas, Story time.
I’ve been Zwifting for about 4 yrs now. Was racing a little bit, and noticed that runners seemed to have huge endurance. I started , maybe I should try running again. Garmin watches went on sale in August, so I bought a Forerunner 965. I linked up Garmin, Zwift and Strava. Just like I did with my Samsung watch
Got on my bike, recorded an indoor ride on my 965, while doing a Zwift ride. After my ride, I seen that Zwift had uploaded to Garmin connect. All my info was there, so I deleted my indoor ride, and used Zwift data. All my training data was there. (Training load). Decided to try running again (I tried running a couple years ago,and hated it). I did everything that I had done before. My run from Zwift uploaded to Garmin connect. So I was happy. Upon further investigation. I wasn’t getting any training load from my runs. Unacceptable.
Did a search a some thread that I found, said that I had to do a seed ride/run. Dual record my run, on my watch and on Zwift. After that, training load would always show. I asked on Zwift runners and a guy named Stephen, told me I always had to use my watch, to get training data on Garmin. So I did Virtual run on my watch, while doing a run. It worked, everything was there:tada: Happy Days .
Since then, I’ve tried a few different ways. It always seems to record my ride/run, training data, Vo2 etc. No credit for Garmin challenges. But wait, the last two runs I’ve done. I’ve used Virtual run, and noticed that I’ve received a couple Garmin badges after my run. So maybe it does count towards Garmin challenges, if I record this way.
I’ve activated a couple Garmin challenges. I’m going to try and dual record with my watch. See if I get any credit towards the challenges.
Please post, if anyone knows any tricks. I will update, If I can get it to work.
so you are saying you have to dual record on garmin and zwift…BTW this is the solution that garmin told me to do today. Don’t allow zwift upload to garmin or you will have two events in garmin.
I kind of told them they were the gold standard in fitness and metrics tracking for athletes and they should get zwift rides to automatically upload those metrics. The guy agreed but I doubt they will do anything as this has been the case since zwift has been around.
As Doug mentioned in his reply, there is a potential issue of needing a one-time “seed” ride, where you record an outdoor bike ride on your watch, before Garmin can import fitness metrics from Zwift. I don’t know why it matters, but it does—or at least it did as of one or two years ago. Have you ever recorded an outdoor bike ride on your 965?
I promise, I and many others are getting Garmin fitness data from Zwift without dual-recording.
Quick edit-I just looked back at an old thread and saw the seed ride might also work if you record while indoors, but use the outdoor setting.
I think if you dual record, you should get credit. I’ve also seen discussions about accomplishing the same result by editing Zwift files to “trick” Connect into thinking they came from a Garmin device. They make it sound easy, but I’m not technically savvy enough or motivated enough to try, and dual-recording/deleting duplicates isn’t that hard!
It sounds like the outdoor ride will work. Or just dual record one of your inside rides. After that, you should be good to go. I know I get training load for all of my Zwift cycling rides. Without dual recording
do you have an update if the seed ride worked? im having the same problem, and got my rides to count towards chalenges by using fitfiletools to change the device on the activity to a garmin device, and that worked. but i still dont get any impact towards my training readyness and training load
If you do a seed ride, will definitely give you training load, but it won’t count towards challenges.
I now record all my Zwift rides on my watch(Indoor bike). As soon as the ride is over, I delete from Strava. Then I go to Garmin connect,delete the Zwift auto upload,add any missing info (distance). I use my Favero pedals for power, if you don’t have you will have to add that info as well.
Boom, problem solved Training load, and it counts towards Garmin challenges.
I did and got similar results as doug ox but it’s hard to say if it really counted or not. There were no intensity minutes recorded and it didn’t show up in the intensity minutes as a ride. Sometimes it does show but no minutes recorded. so it’s hard to say. In connect it says I have done all the rides and counts them as such but things are still wonky. I’m leaning towards dual recording and not uploading from zwift.
I dual record everything now. I just delete my Zwift rides on Garmin.
I’m scared to shut off automatic uploads, from Zwift. A few times I have forgotten to start my watch. Always good to have a backup.
Just saying what works best for me
, maybe I should try running again. Garmin watches went on sale in August, so I bought a Forerunner 965. I linked up Garmin, Zwift and Strava. Just like I did with my Samsung watch
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challenges. I’m going to try and dual record with my watch. See if I get any credit towards the challenges.