Virtual Run Feature for At-home Training

By Kindal Wallum, Garmin Ambassador, @runningwithstrength

Whether it’s a global pandemic, crazy weather conditions or a newborn baby at home, many of us must work out at home and turn to the treadmill. For a lot of us, the treadmill is a necessary evil but staring at a blank screen or basement wall is monotonous and boring. Luckily, Garmin has a new feature on their fitness tracker watches* to help make treadmill running fun. 

You can link your Garmin to Zwift and get running with your best running friends or explore a new part of the world virtually using the new Virtual Run feature on your Garmin device. The Garmin watch will use its accelerometer to detect running speed and transmit it to Zwift. If you want even more accuracy and data transferred to Zwift, you can link a Garmin Running Dynamics Pod and heart rate monitor to your watch. 

This new feature lets your Garmin watch rebroadcast that data (speed, heart rate, cadence) as BLUETOOTH^® signals to your iPhone^® or iPad^®. My favorite part of running virtually with my Garmin over the past weeks has been in New York City and Central Park. It’s fun to see the cyclists and runners running the hills of Central Park and cheering each other on. 

Additionally, Zwift hosts mini races that you can join and race others virtually around the globe with your Garmin smartwatch as a tracker. I know we are all missing racing right now, and what better way to #BeatYesterday and push yourself to complete those treadmill miles. 

*This feature is currently available on these Garmin smartwatches:

• fenix^® 6 series
• Forerunner^® 245 and 245 Music
• Forerunner^® 945
• MARQ^® Collection
• tactix^® Delta

To learn more and to set this feature up on your Garmin smartwatch, click here.