Upload Your Workout Data to BT's Training Log

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Easily transfer your workout data from your Garmin, Polar, Timex and more directly into your BT training log. Eliminate the manual entries. Save time!

The Beginner Triathlete training log will upload your workouts the following ways:

 

Automatic Workout Uploads

Manual Workout Uploads

See the basics of manually uploading your workouts

  • Garmin Communicator - direct from device, .TCX or .FIT files
  • Polar - .HRM files
  • Timex - .PWX files from the Timex Global Trainer.  
  • Trainingpeaks - basic workout data from website

Learn how to manually upload your workouts

Automatic workout uploads via Garmin Connect

This is perhaps the easiest way to get workouts automatically into your BT training log and is much better than our old method.  

  • Garmin Express, the newest of Garmin's software, will automatically grab workouts from your device and send them to Garmin Connect.  They will then get sent to BT and your training log will be updated automatically within minutes (ideally) OR
  • Garmin Communicator with the ANT agent will also send workouts to Garmin Connect which then go to BT.  I believe Express will eventually replace Communicator so try Express first.
  • File uploads (TCX, FIT, GPX) to Garmin Connect will send workouts to BT.

WHAT TO DO:

1 - Make sure you have a Garmin Connect Account and Garmin Express (or Communicator) Installed.

*If Garmin Communicator already works fine for you in sending workouts to Garmin Connect, skip to step 2.

2 - In BT, go to Settings--> Training log settings --> Device Upload.  Click on the button to link your accounts.

3 - Any workout manually imported in Garmin Connect (TCX, FIT, GPX) will automatically get sent to BT along with any workouts Garmin Express or Communicator gets from your device.  

KEEP IN MIND:

*Manually creating a workout on Garmin Connect will not sync with BT, it HAS to be a manual file upload or from your device via Express or Communicator.

**Workouts get sent to BT and parsed for display within a minute currently.  Though in the future, this may take longer depending on load.

***DUPLICATE WORKOUTS - You 'may get' up to a month of recent data sent to your BT training log creating duplicate workouts for which we have no control over initially.  You will have to delete them which will only take about 5 minutes.  If you wan't older workouts on BT you will have to manually upload the file here. 

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS:

-If your system doesn't support Garmin Express, our current, older Communicator method will still work though Express and Communicator cannot co-habitate on your computer...please uninstall Express to continue to use Communicator.  Communicator 'may' be sun-setted by Garmin in the future FWIW.

-If your workouts don't even make it to your Garmin Connect account, then the problem is not with BT at this point, double-check your Garmin software and account settings.  Workouts only get sent to BT if A: you authorize it and B: the workouts made their way to Garmin Connect first.

Manual Upload by Garmin Communicator

  • Internet Explorer 7+ (upgrade)  Firefox 2+ (upgrade), Safari, Chrome
  • Install the latest version of Garmin Communicator
    You will need to restart your browser or reboot your computer
  • Run the Garmin Communicator TEST
    If it still fails, run the Garmin WebUpdater
    *We recommend installing the WebUpdater to make sure that you have the latest Garmin firmware to eliminate problems.
     
    **Make sure to have the Garmin plug-in enabled in your browser!  Firefox and others will not automatically enable the Garmin plug-in. 

1- Garmin software updates
You need to have the latest Garmin software on your device and your computer. The best way to handle this is with the Garmin WebUpdater. Please install this and run it on your computer before using the workout uploader. Even if you bought your Garmin recently. The software it came with might not be the latest and this requires the latest.

2- Smart recording
Make sure your Garmin device is set to Smart Recording, otherwise the data files will almost certainly be too big to work with this feature.

3- Stored workout limitations

If you have a lot of workouts stored on your device, the upload process may take a while. This was designed to upload only the data absolutely required, but if you have 6 months worth of workouts on your device and the upload process seems slow, you should look at deleting some workouts from the device.

 

4 - Correct workout types
Your Garmin needs to be set to the correct type of activity (running or cycling) and imported into the same type. The importer won't find a running activity if you import into the cycling log.

*We designed this to be efficient and quick. Pulling off the whole workout history and working with it in the browser, or uploading it to the server could get problematic and/or slow if there are a lot of other sport workouts or a bunch of long workouts to go through.

Troubleshooting
This assumes that you have the latest Garmin software updates.  
Does your upload get stuck on a certain %?
See if you workout can be uploaded on Garmin's test page.
If it fails, then it is a hardware problem and you want to contact Garmin.
 
Reporting a Bug:
So, what should you do if something doesn't work or you think you've found a bug? First, clear your browser cache and try it again. If not, post a bug report in this forum

We'll need the following information:

  • Garmin model,
  • your computer Operating System and version,
  • Browser and version,
  • the text of any error messages,
  • a description of what went wrong. "It didn't work" doesn't give us anything to look at. Also, we may ask you to send us the tcx file of the workout from Training Center.
      

Polar

You can access your Polar .hrm files by following these instructions.

Timex

You will need to download the Timex Device Agent first to generate .pwx files.

.PWX files will be located in:

Vista or Windows 7: C:\Users\[Windows user]\TrainingPeaks\Device Agent\saved\[username]

XP or earlier: C:\Documents and Settings\[Windows user]\My Documents\TrainingPeaks\Device Agent\saved\[username]

 

Where to manually upload your workouts - two ways

1 - Bulk Upload

Go to 'Training Log' --> 'Add today's workout --> 'Upload'

 

 

You will be able to choose the device to upload. 

Specifically for the Garmin devices, you will be able to choose more than one workout
*Make sure your workout is recorded in the correct sport. 

 2 - Individual workout

If you are on the single sport workout logger, you will see an 'Upload' button in the bottom right.

 

When will my workout show up in my training log?

 
It should show up within 30 seconds for single files.  It may take longer for multiple files.  You will then be able to edit it, add equipment, routes and comments.
 
All relevant data is pulled from the device and transferred to your training log, we do some math to determine things like distance and HR and the data is then displayed on the page. Advanced HR data is also handled. If you have an HR zone defined for that sport, the Advanced HR Zone data will show up.

Viewing uploaded HR and Splits data

 
Clicking on the 'play button will bring up details of your uploaded workout in the right sidebar.  There will also be direct links to large versions of the graphs along with a table of data.
 
 
Example of workout heart rate information:
 
 
Example of workout splits information:
 

Heart rate zone setup

If you want your time spent in your heart-rate zone, you MUST have your zones setup in your training log.  See instructions.

 

The Heart Rate zone totals won't exactly match those in Training Center or MotionBased.

This does not mean they're incorrect. It means we use a slightly different means of calculating the time in Zones. We're confident about the way we calculate this. The times are actually similar. Actually, if you check, TC and MB don't match each other and MB is owned by Garmin.

*Also, the HR Zone data is based on how your zones are defined on BT. How they're defined on your device is ignored.

 

**Active hr zone in your training log needs to be in the format 'xx - yy' and not '>120' or '185+'.

NOTE, HR data graphs are a Performance Member feature though the data is recorded.

Lap Data

Lap Data has to exist on the device for it to be transferred to the training log. When importing a workout that contains data for more than one lap, the following data is imported into the workout Comments for each lap: duration, distance, pace, Max HR, Avg HR. 

 

You need to have >1 lap for the lap logging to work.

NOTE, Lap data graphs are a Performance Member feature, though the data will be recorded.

Thanks

We've had help from some great people who put a lot of effort into testing this. They found a lot of things I wouldn't have and were very generous with their time and effort.

PLEASE POST ALL QUESTIONS IN THE TRAINING LOG FORUMS

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date: June 18, 2008