Multisport activities don't import correctly

Hi Janyne,

I know this is a sore spot. I don't believe we've ever been great at this because all of the various devices don't use the same parameters to output multisport files. New devices are being introduced and redesigned all the time, and it's hard to keep up with it, since we aren't a big corporation.

However, we had another member recently complain about this issue, and we are looking into what can be done, and whether our integration with Tapiriik can fix it. Often if it imports correctly into Strava or Training Peaks, you can sync that automatically with BT, and it will all look good on our end. But the Tapiriik integration is a new one for us, and we don't have much data on how it works with multisport, so I appreciate all of the user feedback and any help in continued testing you are willing to give.

- Alice

Would you consider (for the common good) turning off the Garmin sync and syncing your Strava to BT at Tapiriik? Maybe if Strava parses the file correctly and sends it over, we can receive it correctly, vs. trying to parse the file from Garmin.

I'm not the programmer, so this might not work, but if we can narrow it down, it's easier to fix.

Is BT no longer supporting the direct import from Garmin?

Edited by jmkizer 2017-05-03 1:56 PM

We are still supporting it, but if it has never worked correctly for multisport and Tapiriik integration does work for multisport workouts, it would make sense for us to encourage people to sync with Tapiriik instead of directly with Garmin.

Well, I wouldn't put it like that.
We've always had our primary focus and mission on supporting triathletes with content and community and training plans and the ability to keep a log online, and the whiz-bang technology has been secondary.
That's why, although we have a Garmin sync and have for years, we've never had one for Polar or Apple or any other competing watches. Trying to keep up with every device and file type has never been our mission here.

In the interest of keeping our investment in the Training Logs functional, we're moving to a more open source way of sustaining it, which is to use a broader platform (Tapiriik) to sync among multiple data sources. I don't think most of our members would want us to stop putting resources into content and forums in order to spend all of it chasing tech updates. There are certainly companies that are great at that. There are whole industries that revolve on making accessories and integrations for each new mobile device as it's introduced. But that's never been our game historically. It seems smarter to look toward something that will work better, more sustainably, for a larger number of devices, which is why we're pushing the Tapiriik sync.

However, we just invested in a fairly large coding upgrade in April, which was set in motion in the middle of the night one night while we were all sleeping, and unfolded largely without a hitch, to address some problems with Garmin upload and file syncing. So, yes, we are supporting Garmin sync. I'm a bit new to the show here, so I don't have top-of-mind all the details of how well we've historically performed on these issues. I only remember me personally uploading/syncing all of my routine workouts, by hand keying in my race data, back in 2011, because the multisport workout import was never smooth. So I don't feel it's deteriorating, but something we can take a look at and see if we can solve it without betting the house on an incremental improvement.

Alice

Also, there's currently an active task in the programming department to look at a duathlon workout that didn't import correctly from another user.
So, we are in fact working on it.

I was asking if you could test it the other way, but if you don't want to do that, it's OK. I'll let you know the progress we are making on the task that was already in motion before your post.

Thanks for keeping us accountable.

Thanks. Can you remind me which device you were using?
And was it a duathlon or a triathlon?

I just checked in with our programmer again.

My understanding is we have never been able to offer a way for multisport workouts to import as separate workouts in the Training Log because of the way databases work, but I've asked the team to see if there is a way to map the sub-workouts (the bike leg, for example) into the appropriate sport in your training log. I'm guessing if I looked at the export file, the data isn't structured the same way as it is for a single workout, and that's why it can't work.

I know in the 10+ years I've been using this site, I've always done a manual upload for my races, or created a race report, which was then reflected in my training log. Still, I'd like to see if we can get this working. I'll post an update when I have one.

OK, great, this is the kind of detail I need. So it does recognize the sports individually. It's just grabbing the "total time" field (which is probably what it always grabs if it's an individual run or bike) and putting that in as the time, when for multisport, there is likely a "subtotal time" or something - some other field with another name.

Yes, of course it SHOULD be able to work correctly, but when you get out into the weeds, you can see the complexity in making all of these computers send and receive information in a way that makes it seamless for the user. It's obvious to us that whatever Garmin names the spreadsheet cell for run subtotal should end up in your run total time in your training log. But the computer program doesn't know that. And each device names its data fields whatever it wants.
(And we don't make a ton of money running this website, so we can't pay for infinite programming time the way the multisport sites backed by Garmin, UnderArmor and other big guys can. We're independent.)

I appreciate the very specific feedback. This will make it easier to correct.

Thanks! At least it makes me feel better if WW has the same problem.

Our programming team has identified a fix and will be implementing it over night. We will then test and see if the problem is fixed next time someone uploads a race that was captured in multisport mode.