Benefits of training with a Garmin watch
By pairing your Runna plan with your Garmin watch, you’ll be coached through your workouts live as you run. For example, if you’re doing an intervals session, you no longer need to remember and track the specific distances, paces and rests. Instead, your watch will automatically tell you how much further is left to run, what your current pace is and how that compares to your target. It’ll notify you when you need to speed up/slow down and even count down your rests so you know when to start running again. Once you've completed your session, you can then compare your runs against what your Runna plan set you!
For general training, you can use your Garmin watch to track your runs, cycles and other activities (watch dependent) and view all of your fitness data post-workout such as paces, heart rate and progression.
If you're considering which Garmin watch to choose, check out our support article on Recommended Garmin watches for any runner. We've also included all of the watches that we support below.
Pairing your Garmin watch with your Runna plan
To pair your Garmin watch with your Runna plan, click on your Train tab followed by Connected Apps & Watches on the Runna App and turn on your Garmin connection! You’ll be prompted to log in with your Garmin Connect credentials and the workouts will be synced automatically to your Connect App. When you switch plan or edit your current plan, we’ll automatically update your workouts for you. And when you mark a workout as complete, we’ll remove it from your profile. Please note that your Garmin workout will appear in the same unit of measurement as your Runna plan so we recommend making sure your Garmin account is configured to use that same unit of measurement.
Our Garmin integration will automatically sync any future unlocked weeks to your Garmin Connect profile. For users on a free week, they'll get access to workouts from that week only. For Runna Premium users, we'll automatically sync the following two weeks of workouts to your profile.
Syncing your workouts
Your Garmin workouts should automatically sync to your watch based on the calendar schedule that they follow. To manually sync your workouts from your Garmin Connect app to your watch, please open your app and navigate to ‘Workouts’. This can typically be found under More > Training > Workouts. You will see all of the workouts from your plan here and can click on each one to see more details. To send it to your watch, click on the workout and select the below button to send it to your watch. You’ll then need to sync your watch to make sure the workout is copied across.
Following workouts on your Garmin watch
To start the workout from your watch, the exact steps will depend on the model that you have. For most Garmin watches, the steps are:
From the watch face, press START
Select ‘running’ by pressing START
Press UP/DOWN and START to navigate to Workouts/Training > My Workouts
Select your workout and select Do Workout.
Press START to start the workout
Setting up your Garmin to get the most out of your workouts
There are some settings that we recommend configuring to make the most out of your Runna workouts when downloaded to your Garmin watch.
Turn off auto-lap
By default, your Garmin watch will automatically create a new ‘lap’ every 1km or 1mi. For the longer splits that we set you (e.g., 2km repeats) this means that the splits will automatically be lapped (split into a new step in your run) mid-way through which makes analysing your average pace afterwards difficult. We recommend turning off auto-lap when following your Runna workouts but also recommend turning it back on again if you’re going for a casual run, time trial or race so that your watch will keep you updated on your pace.
Turn off auto-pause
Auto-pause will automatically pause your workout when it detects that you’ve stopped moving (e.g., at traffic lights). However, this can be a problem when running interval workouts since while you’re resting, even if walking around, it can detect that you’ve stopped running and pause the workout including the timer to start running again. We recommend turning off auto-pause and getting into the habit of manually pausing and resuming the workout when you are forced to stop running temporarily (e.g., at traffic lights).
Turn on audio prompts
If you connect your Garmin to headphones to listen to music / podcasts then it can be helpful to receive pace and audio alerts through your headphones too. On your Garmin app head to your watch settings (image of your watch at the top of the home screen) and click Audio Prompts and enable Workout Alerts, Activity Alerts, Lap Alerts and Pace/Speed Alerts. See what you get on with and feel free to enable/disable as necessary.
You can check your device's compatibility with the audio cue feature here.
Tracking your progress
After you’ve completed your run, your completed workout will then be stored in your Runna app, Garmin Connect app and optionally synced to Strava if you have enabled the connection from within the Garmin app. You can then analyse your post-workout stats and compare them to the pace targets that you were set. If you’re consistently beating, or not making, your pace targets then we suggest editing them to make your targets challenging yet achievable.
Using the Garmin Calendar
If you've added a Race Date to your plan then we'll automatically add your workouts to the Garmin Calendar and it will suggest your workout automatically on your watch when it's time to go. If you don't have a Race Date added, we'll still add the workouts to your calendar each week and update them ahead of time so that they're suggested on the correct days, whenever you're ready to start.
Supported watches
All watches that support Garmin Coach will support your Runna plan. Please check Garmin’s website for the latest list of compatible watches but we’ve included the latest list which was correct at the time of writing. Compatible watches:
Approach® S70
Captain Marvel | First Avenger Legacy Hero
D2™ Air | D2™ Air X10
D2™ Charlie
D2™ Delta
D2™ Mach 1
Darth Vader™ | Rey™ Legacy Saga
Descent™ G1|Descent™ G1 Solar
Descent™ Mk1
Descent™ Mk2|Descent™ Mk2S|Descent™ Mk2i
Enduro™
Enduro™ 2
epix™ (Gen 2) | epix™ (Gen 2) Sapphire | epix (Gen 2) Porsche Edition
epix™ Pro (Gen 2) Standard | epix™ Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire
fēnix® 3 | fēnix® 3 HR | fēnix® 3 Sapphire
fēnix® 5 | fēnix® 5S | fēnix® 5X
fēnix® 5 Plus | fēnix® 5S Plus | fēnix® 5X Plus
fēnix® 6 - Standard Edition | fēnix® 6 - Pro and Sapphire Editions | fēnix® 6 - Pro Solar Edition
fēnix® 6S - Standard Edition | fēnix® 6S - Pro and Sapphire Editions | fēnix® 6S - Pro Solar Edition
fēnix® 6X - Pro and Sapphire Editions | fēnix® 6X - Pro Solar Edition
fēnix® 7 - Standard Edition | fēnix® 7 - Solar Edition | fēnix® 7 - Sapphire Solar Edition
fēnix® 7S - Standard Edition | fēnix® 7S - Solar Edition | fēnix® 7S - Sapphire Solar Edition
fēnix® 7X - Solar Edition | fēnix® 7X - Sapphire Solar Edition
fēnix® 7 Pro - Solar Edition | fēnix® 7 Pro - Sapphire Solar Edition
Forerunner® 45 | Forerunner® 45S
Forerunner® 55
Forerunner® 220
Forerunner® 230
Forerunner® 235
Forerunner® 245 | Forerunner® 245 Music
Forerunner® 255 | Forerunner® 255S | Forerunner® 255 Music | Forerunner® 255S Music
Forerunner® 265 | Forerunner® 265S
Forerunner® 610
Forerunner® 620
Forerunner® 630
Forerunner® 645 | Forerunner® 645 Music
Forerunner® 735XT
Forerunner® 745
Forerunner® 920XT
Forerunner® 935
Forerunner® 945 | Forerunner® 945 LTE
Forerunner® 955 | 955® Solar
Forerunner® 965
Instinct® - Standard Edition | Instinct® - Tactical Edition | Instinct® - Esports Edition
Instinct® Solar - Standard Edition | Instinct® Solar - Camo Edition | Instinct® Solar - Surf Edition | Instinct Solar - Tactical Edition
Instinct® 2S - Standard Edition | Instinct® 2S - Camo Edition | Instinct® 2S - Surf Edition
Instinct® 2S Solar | Instinct® 2S Solar - Surf Edition
Instinct® 2 - Standard Edition | Instinct® 2 - Camo Edition | Instinct® 2 - Surf Edition | Instinct® 2 - dēzl Edition
Instinct® 2 Solar | Instinct® 2 Solar - Tactical Edition | Instinct® 2 Solar - Surf Edition
Instinct® 2X Solar | Instinct® 2X Solar - Tactical Edition
Instinct® Crossover - Standard Edition | Instinct® Crossover Solar | Instinct® Crossover Solar - Tactical Edition
MARQ® Adventurer | MARQ® Athlete | MARQ® Aviator | MARQ® Captain | MARQ® Commander | MARQ® Driver | MARQ® Expedition | MARQ® Golfer
MARQ® Adventurer (Gen 2) | MARQ® Athlete (Gen 2) | MARQ® Aviator (Gen 2) | MARQ® Captain (Gen 2) | MARQ® Golfer (Gen 2)
quatix® 3
quatix® 5 | quatix® 5 Sapphire
quatix® 6 | quatix® 6X Solar | quatix® 6 Titanium
tactix® 7 - AMOLED Edition | tactix® 7 - Standard Edition | tactix® 7 - Pro Edition | tactix® 7 Pro Ballistics Edition
tactix® Bravo
tactix® Charlie
tactix® Delta - Sapphire Edition | tactix® Delta - Solar Edition | tactix® Delta - Solar Edition with Ballistics
Venu®
Venu® 2 | Venu® 2S
Venu® 2 Plus
Venu® 3 | Venu® 3S
Venu Sq® | Venu Sq® - Music Edition
Venu Sq® 2 | Venu Sq® 2 - Music Edition
vívoactive® 3 | vívoactive® 3 Music
vívoactive® 4 | vívoactive® 4S
vívoactive® 5
Any questions?
If you have any questions about using your Garmin watch with your Runna plan then please first check out our support article I'm having issues syncing my Garmin, what should I do? If you have any further questions or problems, don’t hesitate to contact us. If it’s a problem using your watch, including technical issues, we’ll try and help as much as we can, but you may be required to contact Garmin directly to get support.