Courses

From MB Wiki

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Courses is a Training feature on the latest Garmin fitness devices that enables you to navigate along a previously recorded route using a map and elevation profile. In addition, the Courses feature allows you to "race" or "pace" yourself against a previously recorded activity. You can to try to exceed or match previously set speeds at every point along the route. You can also race against the Virtual Partner when training with courses.


Table of contents
1 Description
2 Requirements

2.1 GPS Devices
2.2 GPS Unit Software
2.3 MotionBased Agent

3 Download Courses
4 Download Courses to your Forerunner 405
5 Tutorial

5.1 Getting Started
5.2 During Activity


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Description

We've all been on a new run or bike ride that turned out to be longer and more difficult than planned, wondering when it is going to end. Perhaps you made a wrong turn somewhere back wherever and you don't know how to get home. In addition, we all have a little bit of that competitive nature that makes us want to beat ourselves or someone else to the finish line. Courses are the perfect answer for these situations.


With Courses you can now download an activity from MotionBased or the Garmin Training Center to your GPS device and not only use that information for navigation, but also use the performance data from that previous activity to race or pace yourself against a Virtual Partner.


The TrailNetwork is one of MotionBased's greatest assets. We have secretly been building the largest digital repository of trails and routes for all kinds of activities, and haven't taken advantage of it until now. TrailNetwork activities now become courses on the device that make outdoor training or expedition guidance possible...guidance with time and elevation in mind.


Traditional GPS routing only knows location in a two-dimensional world. The old school way to calculate estimated time of arrival is to take your average speed and figure out the distance to your next location on a flat Earth, and guess when you might arrive at your destination. What if there is a massive hill along the way? It could take you three times longer than the GPS estimated. How about 5 miles of technical single track that feels like 50?


Courses take location, elevation and time into consideration, to make the most accurate estimation of guidance. Using previously recorded rides, runs, and other activities, the Edge and Forerunner will now make estimations that pertain to the real world, not the mathematical two-dimensional world without terrain changes. This means that you can use courses to help you understand how well you are doing along the route.


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Requirements

To use Courses, you must be using one of the following GPS devices running the latest firmware and have the required software installed on your computer.


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GPS Devices


Note: Your device may support Tracks. Read more from Download


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GPS Unit Software

Make sure your GPS device has the latest unit software installed. In many cases, the pre-installed software on the device does not support Courses properly.



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MotionBased Agent


NOTE: You must use MotionBased Agent 2.3 (http://www.motionbased.com/support/download/view.mb?tile=support.download.agent) (released on May 15, 2006) or higher to download activities to your GPS device. Your GPS device may lock up if you download an activity with an older MotionBased Agent. Learn how to check your version of the MotionBased Agent.

Limitation: Multiple courses cannot be maintained on the device using the new Course Download feature. If you want to download a single Course to test it out, then downloading directly from the MB Activity is the way to go. However, if you download a course from MB and then try to download a second, the first (and all others) will be deleted from the device. To work around this, save the .crs file to your desktop, import that to Training Center, then 'Send to Device'. Remember, the more Courses you put on your device, the more memory is being taken up. Always use Courses sparingly, like for new adventures.

Known Issues: Internet Explorer has problems exporting activities with special characters in the Activity name (like / or \). Try renaming the activity with just letters, spaces and numbers and export again.

When downloading from Internet Explorer, save to your desktop first, then double click the saved file and the MotionBased Agent will load the course.
Download MotionBased Agent (http://www.motionbased.com/support/download/view.mb?tile=support.download.agent)
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Download Courses

Follow these instructions to download a course from MotionBased to your GPS device. Courses can be download from your Digest and TrailNetwork.


Note - These steps will REPLACE the courses you have on your device with the one downloaded from MotionBased. If you want a new course to be added to your existing courses already in your device, you should to export the course from MotionBased, import it into Training Center, then send them to your device. More detailed instructions can be found at Training Center Course (crs)


  • Dashboard
    1. Go to the Dashboard Summary page of the activity you wish to download.
    2. Click on 'GPS Device' link in the Download row.
    3. When prompted by browser pop-up window, you may 'Open' the file directly with the default MotionBased Agent application. You may also 'Save' the file directly to your computer.
    4. After the MotionBased Agent launches, you will be prompted to re-name Course (optional).
    5. Ensure that GPS device is connected to your computer with USB cable.
    6. Click 'Send' button.
    7. Read Course Instructions to learn how to use on the device.


  • Digest
    1. View Digest or TrailNetwork in 'Table View' mode.
    2. Click checkbox next to the activity you wish to download as a course. You may select multiple activities to include in the file.
    3. Select 'Course to GPS Device' from the 'More Actions' drop-down menu.
    4. When prompted by browser pop-up window, you may 'Open' the file directly with the default MotionBased Agent application. You may also 'Save' the file directly to your computer.
    5. After the MotionBased Agent launches, you will be prompted to re-name Course (optional).
    6. Ensure that GPS device is connected to your computer with USB cable.
    7. Click 'Send' button.
    8. Read Course Instructions to learn how to use on the device.



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Download Courses to your Forerunner 405

We are still working on a seamless "Send to Device" or Course Download solution at Garmin Connect, which will be available in the coming months. Until then, you can download the course from MotionBased, import into Training Center and then click "send to device." The activity will then automatically transfer to your device via the ANT Agent.

Software Requirements:

  • Garmin Training Center (latest version)
  • Garmin ANT Agent (latest version)


Complete instructions:

  1. While viewing the activity (Dashboard > Summary page) at MotionBased, click the CRS link within Export.
  2. Save the CRS file to your Desktop
  3. Open Training Center
    1. Go to File > Import > Courses
    2. Choose the CRS file from your desktop (once imported, you can see all courses by clicking the 'Courses' button)
    3. Click the "Send to Device" button to transfer to your device.
  4. The ANT Agent will now send the Course to your device.
  5. Once the transfer is complete, the Course can be found by navigating to Menu > Training > Courses on your Forerunner 405.


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Tutorial

The following Courses tutorial and screen shots are for the Forerunner 205/305. The Edge 205/305 follows the same steps with minor differences in screen shots.


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Getting Started

After you download a Course with the MotionBased Agent or Garmin Training Center, follow these steps to get your GPS device prepped to follow a course:

  1. Turn on GPS device
  2. Press 'Mode' until you access the Main Menu (Edge 605/705 users press 'Menu' button)
  3. Select 'Training' option on Main Menu
    Image:Training.gif
  4. Select 'Courses' option on Training Menu
    Image:Courses.gif
  5. Select a specific course
    Image:Select_course.gif
  6. Select 'Do Course' option
    Image:Do_course.gif
  7. The Courses page will appear displaying the following fields:
    • Dist to Pt - Distance to next course point (Starting Point in this case)
    • Time to Pt - Time to next couse point based on previous activity
    • Dist to End - Distance to end of course
    • Course Time - Time to end of couse based on previous activity
  8. As you approach the start point, the distance should approach zero
  9. If you don't know the location of the start point, press 'Mode' until you access the Compass page. Follow the arrow until you reach the start point
  10. Once you reach the start of the course and you're ready to go, press "Start/Stop" button


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During Activity

Once you start the course, you will want to periodically look at the screen of your GPS device to monitor your performance and ensure that you're on course.

Image:Course1.jpg In this example, we can see that I'm 0.9 miles from the next course point (Top) which took me 10min 15sec to reach on the previous activity from this location. In addition, it tells me that I have 2.78 miles to the end which took me 26min 56sec to reach from this location.
Image:Elevation1.jpg When I press the Up or Down arrow (Mode button on Edge) on the GPS device, I will eventually access the Elevation Profile. Because I enabled the Virtual Partner, I not only see my location on the Elevation Profile, but also the location of my Virtual Partner on the Elevation Profile. As we can see, I'm slightly behind my Virtual Partner.
Image:Map.jpg If I press 'Mode", I will eventually access the Map page. Now we can see my location and performance compared to my Virtual Partner from a "bird's eye" view.
Image:Off_course.jpg If I veer off couse, the GPS device will beep and display a pop-up message. Now when I view the Map page, it displays several key images to help me get back on course:
  • Black Triangle - Me
  • Big Circle - Circle of GPS error
  • Breadcrumb - Thin line indicating the route I took
  • Route - Thick line indicating the intended route
  • Small Circle - The point of the intended route where I veered off-course and must return
Image:On_course.jpg Once I get back on course, we can see that my Black Triangle is on the Route and ready to resume the course.
Image:Dist_behind.jpg As a result of getting off course, I lost significant time. I could return to the Map or Elevation Profile pages to see how far behind I am. I can also access the Virtual Partner page and get the exact distance I am behind my Virtual Partner. In this example, we can see that I'm 0.44 miles behind my Virtual Partner.
Image:Virtual.jpg As I turned it into high gear to catch my Virtual Partner, the GPS device beeped and displayed a pop-up message indicating that my Virtual Partner finished the course. Now I have better perspective as to how I performed on this given day.
Image:End.jpg After I cross the virtual finish line, the GPS device will beep and display a pop-up message that the course is complete.


Trouble Shooting Don't see maps or elvation profiles? Make sure they are turned on in your settings:

  • Forerunner - Go to Main Menu > Settings > General > Map > Show Map > Yes
  • Edge - Go to Main Menu > Settings > System > General > Page Map Options > Map & Altimeter
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