Race Day Full User Manual

Introduction

Race Day App — an app to provide spectators with essential data and insightful stats about a runner during his race.  During a race, it can be difficult to know how your runner (son/daughter/friend) is doing.  Often times, you may not know at what place in the course you are cheering at, and would like to know how your runner is doing.  This app can help. It sends real time data about your runner to your phone when your runner runs by. 

Race Day App is the app for you if you:

* As a runner, would like your coach/parents/friends to get data about your race in real time. 

* As an onlooker, want to better understand how your athlete is doing at the moment.

* As a coach, want to improve your runner’s race on the fly. 

Disclaimer

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This app sometimes fails.  Sometimes it randomly crashes, and sometimes it won’t transmit data to the phone.  That is why it is FREE and in BETA.  I am working through these bugs, and each update will hopefully make the app easier to use and more stable.  If you have encountered a bug, please send me an email using the contact developer link below!

Also: The companion app for your phone is required to see the race stats.  The Android app can be found HERE, but the Apple app has not been released yet. 

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** Instructions **

Setting up Race Day App is now really easy. Just follow these quick steps.

First time installation instructions:

1. Download the Race Day App for your Garmin watch.  This app can be found HERE. 
2. Download the companion app for your phone.  The android app can be found HERE. NOTE: The apple app has not been released yet.

Before a race — Android instructions: 

1. Open Race Day on your phone. 
2. If you see your watch in the menu go to step 6. 
3. If you don’t see your watch in the menu, press the three dots on the top right of your screen, then press “Reload Devices”. 
4. Your device should appear with the label “Connected”.
5. If your watch still isn’t connecting, open Garmin Connect Mobile and make sure your device is connecting there. Once your device is connected in Garmin Connect Mobile, return to Race Day App and try again.
6. Tap your watch.
7. You’re done!  Once your runner starts an activity on his watch, the watch will be ready to send data to your phone.

Why an App and not a DataField in the Garmin App Store

After more than a month of testing the Garmin app as a DataField, I decided to switch it to a device app.  What’s the difference?  Well, Garmin’s DataFields are only allowed to send data once every 5 minutes. This really limits the functionality of this app.  So, I built my own app to be able to send data every second.

Pros:

1. This app is much easier to set up.
2. This app can transfer data much faster.
3. This app works more reliably than the DataField app.
4. This app can transfer data whenever it wants to, (not just every 5 minutes).
5. This app can display charts, like heart rate and pace, allowing for better real-time analysis.

Cons: 

1. Because of all these improved features, this app has to be a device app, meaning that you can’t use your normal app during your race, like you could with Race Day *BETA*. However, this app is built to imitate the default “Run” app.  It still records the FIT data, and shows details like distance and pace.

Connecting Multiple Phones

More than one person can get stats during the race, but it’s a little tricky to set up.  Let me walk you through how you can get stats on more than one device.  

I’ll call the first phone “phone 1” and the other phone “phone 2”.

1. Connect your watch to phone 1. You probably have already connected your Garmin to this phone.  But, if you haven’t, open the Garmin Connect Mobile app on your phone, and press the plus button on the top right hand side of the screen.  Then add your device.
2. Turn Bluetooth off on phone 1.  In order to pair more than one phone with your watch, you need no bluetooth interference.  
3. Make sure Garmin Connect Mobile is downloaded on phone 2.  
4. Make sure you’re signed into the same Garmin Connect account as the account on phone 1. I’m not sure that you really need to be signed into the same account, but if you are having problems getting the devices to connect, try having both devices logged in to the same account.
5. If you see your watch on the top right of the screen, continue on to the next step.  If you don’t see it, press the plus button and try to add your device.
6. If you see your watch at the top right of the screen, but the watch doesn’t seem connected, or if you are trying to add your device, and Garmin Connect can’t find it, go to Settings>Bluetooth and search for your watch there.  Once you see your watch, tap it.  It may ask for a six digit pin, which should be displayed on your watch.  Enter the pin if you see it. Return to the Garmin app and make sure that the Garmin App can connect to the watch.
7. Turn bluetooth back on on phone 1.  Bluetooth needs to be on for this to work.
8. Try it!  Open Race Day *BETA* on both phones, and place them 200-300 feet apart.  Now, open Race Day on your Garmin, and see if stats are sent to both devices.  If you can’t get this to work, shoot me an email using the contact developer page on the Garmin Connect IQ App Store.

What stats do I get?

There are four primary stats right now. 

Time: This is the time that the activity has been running.  If you pause your watch, the timer pauses as well.  

Distance: The distance you have run in this activity. 

Pace: Your overall speed in minutes/mile. This is your total pace throughout the whole race, not your current pace.

Heart Rate: Your current heart rate. 

ALSO, there are graphs for Pace and Heart Rate!  Once the primary data (Raw Time, Distance, Heart Rate, and Pace are transferred to the phone, the secondary data (Pace Graph and Heart Rate Graph) is transferred.  If your runner runs by and one of the graphs does not get updated, this is because the watch didn’t have enough time to transfer all the graph data before it got disconnected from the phone.

Cadence: Not available yet, however I plan on adding it when I get the chance. 

Why would anyone want these stats?

As a spectator in a race where you can’t see your runner (like cross country), you may have virtually no idea how your runner is doing when he passes you at a certain spot in the race.  In fact, you may not even know at what position you are standing in the race.  You might be at the mile mark, or maybe at the 2 mile mark.  Sure, you can count to see what place your runner is in, and time your runner on your phone, but wouldn’t you wan’t to go deeper into the stats, and be able to see the whole race in front of you, as your runner passes by?  You could see the predicted finish time for your runner.  You could tell how far your runner has run, and how far he has left to go.  You can find his pace automatically and determine if he’s on pace with a glance.  You can sync the timer on your phone with the timer on the watch (especially useful if its a road race and you don’t know exactly when your runner crossed the starting line).*  And this is just the beginning.  I still haven’t even started on cadence (steps per minute)!  In addition to all this, you can analyze all these stats while you are waiting for your runner to pass by again, or waiting for him to cross the finish line.

A cyclist could use this app to see data like heart rate right on his phone, eliminating the need to look down at his watch all the time.

Can someone else get my stats?

Yes, and no. 

You can only receive the stats from the watch that is paired to your phone.  For example, if your runner and someone else in the race uses this app, you will not get the data from the other person.  The data can only come from the watch that is connected to your phone.  

On the flip side, if you would like someone else to get your stats, you can have them download Garmin Connect and Race Day on the android app store and pair the watch to their phone.  For more info on this, go back up to “Connect Multiple Phones”.

** BUGS! **

Like most apps, this app probably has a few bugs.  If you have found a bug and it isn’t listed here, or would like to notify me that you have this problem as well, please email me through the contact developer link on the Garmin Connect IQ Store listing.

BUG #1:  

DEVICE: vivoactive 3

REPORTS: 1

CAUSE:

Unknown.  However, it seems to be more prevalent when you have stopped running, but not stopped your watch.  Could be division by zero in code caused by pace being zero.

EFFECT:

Pauses the activity, restarts the watch, and returns to the device’s native activity in the paused state.

STATUS: Fixed.  This bug has not been seen since the release of this app.

** Other Good Stuff **

The range of Bluetooth is about 10 meters. In order for this app to work, you will need to be that close or closer to your runner at some point in the race. 

If you have any questions, please send me an email through the contact developer link at the bottom of the Connect IQ store description.