New Member With Software Questions

[Fasterhorses]

I have a Garmin GPSMAP76S and a Forerunner 50 with the HRM attached to my horse. I use it for endurance training the horse and the ocassional race. I have never recorded the HRM data because I could never combine it with the gpx files.

Will the FR50 record a tcx file that can be combined with the gpx file using this software?

Can I enter the weight of horse+rider and get power?

Can the new combined file be uploaded to MotionBased?

Thanks for your help,
Fasterhorses

[ScottMorris]

Let's see, Forerunner 50 TCX file with no coordinates, but only distance and heart rate.

There is a function to add Power and Heart Rate with a GPX file, but the power/heart rate file needs to be in a comma separated format (specifically, Powertap's format).  If you could somehow get it into that format you can definitely combine them.

As for power with horse+rider, you could try it I suppose.  A horse's physiology (and top end speed) is quite different, but I bet it would give you something that is somewhat useful.  You might ask Dr. Phil over at http://www.physfarm.com/.  He is the brains behind the power computations in TopoFusion.

Your last question: yes the combined file could be uploaded to Motionbased.  Well, Garmin Connect since Motionbased doesn't accept uploads anymore. 

[Fasterhorses]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the quick reply.

The FR50 tcx file would have only HR and Time. I do not use the Footpod on the horse. It does work and can be calibrated, sort of, but it cannot take the punishment from dirt, rocks and brush. That's why I use the GPS for speed, distance and gain.

So I need to convert the tcx file to csv and then the software will combine it with the gpx file. Is that correct?

I read some reports on this software and they mentioned an "offset" function that lets the user correct the time on one file to match the time on the other file and then combines the data based on matching the time. Did I read that correctly?

Thanks for your help,
Fasterhorses

[ScottMorris]

Oh, HR and Time.  Well, that makes it a different (though easier) problem. Unfortunately there isn't code in TF right now to merge based on timestamps.  It isn't a super hard piece of code to write, but it will take some work on the UI end.  I guess I have to weigh how much interest there would be for this feature.  Any thoughts on that?

[Fasterhorses]

Well there are over 6000 members in the AERC (horse endurance racing organization) and many of us ride with HRM's and GPS's. Currently there is none, as in zero, software that can be used to estimate the fitness of a horse or show the improvement in fitness when run multiple times over an endurance training loop. There are similar large groups in the UK and Australia so you might be first into the gold mine which could be a good thing in this economy.

I realize some of the output numbers for a horse (like watts) might not be really correct (you add a disclaimer) but the "change" in watts between runs on the same training loop would be correct and would be a great indicator of a "change" in the fitness of the horse. Right now horse riders just have data. Gain, Distance, Time and HR and quite frankly looking at raw data tells me nothing about fitness.

I vote you whip up some code and let a few of us horse types test it out then park a dump truck under your PayPal account to collect the money. 

Thanks for your help,
Fasterhorses

[ScottMorris]

Haha, I spit out my water laughing at the dump trunk comment.

I'll see what I can do, and I'll also see what Phil thinks about using his equations to measure horse fitness!

[Fasterhorses]

Hello Scott,

I sent an email to David (missed Phil) at physfarm.com and asked about measuring horse fitness and he is looking into it. I'm thinking about buying the Garmin 705. Is that a good unit, are the bugs worked out? Thanks,

Don

[ScottMorris]

Don,

Yep, I spoke to Phil about it briefly and he is definitely interested.  He thinks the current formulas would be applicable and would certainly give a rough idea of fitness/etc.

705 still has a few quirks, I think, but it's come a long way.  It would definitely solve your combination problem, though I would like to write the code if I get some time in the next month or so.

[Fasterhorses]

Scott,

I installed a DEMO copy of your TopoFusion and loaded a 13 mile training ride that does not have heart rate. I exported a csv file of the ride and opened it in excel. I have avg HR from my FR50 for the same ride. Can I manually add the HR to the csv? How? Will it load back into TopoFusion or RaceDay? Thanks,

Don

[ScottMorris]

.CSV is export only for TF, but it is designed to be read by RaceDay, so yes, you should be able to add HR to it and import.

There should be a column for HR when you load the .csv in excel.

[Fasterhorses]

In the main program I looked at "Lap Analysis". It had data up to "Stopped Time". The HR and Cadance and Power had "No Data". When I opened the csv file the 2nd to last column was "Stopped Time" and no columns for HR, Cadance nor Power. Then for some reason there was a new column "Elevation" which seems to be the sum of the start elev +gain -loss at each lap. Do I just add 2 columns after "Stopped Time" for "Avg HR" and "Max HR"? What does the "Elevation" column do? Thanks,

Don

[ScottMorris]

Ah, don't use Lap Analysis -- that is for splitting tracks up into different intervals.

Select the file you want, do 'save as...' then select .csv.  You'll see a column for power, HR, Cad, etc...

[Fasterhorses]

Hello Scott,

I'm liking your program more and more. I finally got my Edge 705 and recorded a couple tracks and loaded them. The variety of analysis is great. I noticed a "Difficulty Index" and "Effort Index". What are the limits of each and what data is being used to determine difficulty and effort? Thanks,

Don Huston

[Fasterhorses]

Hello Scott,

I found the online manual and your explaination of "difficulty & effort" indexes and it answered almost all my questions. What great tools especially for rating Horse Endurance Races with your "difficulty index".

The explaination did not mention the max numerical limits of each, is there one?

In theory, on a closed course (start and finish back at the start), would the "difficulty index" be the same going in either direction?

Don Huston

[ScottMorris]

Hi Don,

Glad you found the page.  For anyone else reading, it is here:

http://www.topofusion.com/stats.php

1) There is no limit to either.  The longer the route, by definition, the harder it is.  Even adding one flat mile adds a tiny bit to both difficulty and effort.

2) Nope, it will almost always be different.  Whichever has steeper climbs will be rated more difficult.