Garmin 500 - what software/websites to use for data?

daniel_b

Hello all,

I have ordered a Garmin 500 in the CRC private sale thingamy, and keenly await it's arrival.

I have existing HR and Cadence from my FR305, so will be using these.

On my existing Edge 205 and FR305 I have always just been using the inbuilt traiing centre, with an occasional and recent foray into the land of Strava.

I have read through the DC Rainmaker very thorough review, but just wondered if people could tell me in their opinion what the best set of software would be to use - what I do not really want to do is having to replicate my uploads to multiple systems and websites.

I imagine I will still need TC to create my workouts (I use these loads for running, and will continue to do with my cycle training) and although they tend to be fairly simple, they help me loads. If I am running 10 miles for example, I will have eash step set as covering a distance of 1 mile, will change the name to custom, and in that name will have something like 1M @ 08:45 - so I see that come up and know I have to run the next mile at that pace.
Works for me anyway.
If I can despatch with TC and use something else altogether then I am happy too.

So, can anyone tell me what they do software and website wise to get the most out of their data?

Additionally, and not related to trainging as such, but i used to use mapmyride to make routes (I forget if they are courses or workouts - workouts I think) and used to transfer these to the device to follow when I was goig on new routes, just in map view mode - is there a better website to do this with, as I do not believe it supports the file format anymore, and additionally, do I need to find a way to put my workouts into ifit format?

Many thanks

Dan

meanredspider

Garmin Connect really replaces TC these days and that's the tool I use to store most of my stuff from all 3 Garmin devices (I also use Strava for the "Social" side and the Training bit on here (BR) too)

Can't really help with the route stuff though GC has the ability to search rides and download routes

TheStone

As above. The Training Centre is thankfully obsolete.
Garmin Connect, and/or Strava for saving rides. You should be able to load all your old crs/tcx rides into it.

There's a whole host of websites you can use for creating courses ... bikeroutetoaster etc.
None are perfect.

I expect very soon they'll be one site that does everything in a really good way ... but surprised we've waited this long.

mtb-idle

as above, upload mine to Garmin connect to allow me to create routes and then download to device.

Use Strava too and Veloviewer for a bit more info.

meanredspider

TheStone wrote:

I expect very soon they'll be one site that does everything in a really good way ... but surprised we've waited this long.

I expect it's all wrapped up in IP. I'd half expected Strava to be bought up by Garmin (like Amazon & Facebook and people hoover up smaller companies with good ideas)

Wrath Rob

TrainingPeaks comes closest to the all-in-one site but its subscription based and targeted at people doing dedicated training, rather than something more basic like commute plus a couple of longer rides a week. For simple workout creation and basic tracking the Garmin Connect has the bases covered, Strava for comparing rides with your mates.

If you want something more hardcore to monitor training load then have a look at Golden Cheetah. Its free and can use the TRIMP model to quantify your training efforts/load to help you focus on peaking/tailing for specific events or monitoring training overload.

mbthegreat

I quite like http://ridewithgps.com/ for making courses, they have premium options but you can make breadcrumb routes with turn notices for free.