Virtual Run, this is what Garmin is preparing

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Last week Garmin released two beta versions for the Forerunner 945 and Forerunner 245 with a number of interesting features:

• Added Widget Glances as in Fenix 6 (by default it's off)
• New Virtual Run profile to send pace, cadence and heart rate data to applications like Zwift (that's what this post is about)
• Low heart rate alert
• Improved battery performance
• Other improvements and bug fixes

This is common to both models, and points the way to what is to come for all watches in the future. If the widget display option has arrived on the FR245, it is no longer something that will be reserved exclusively for the higher-end models (it first arrived with the Fenix 6).

It's simply a matter of viewing the widgets in a more compressed form by default (rather than one per screen), which means that you don't have to scroll as much to see any specific option.

But if there's one thing that stands out, it's the new sports profile that Garmin has called Virtual Run.

What is Virtual Run?

Virtual Run is not your typical sports profile, its main function is to deliver data from the watch sensors to external apps. And by external apps I mean Zwift. Once you have selected the profile, a screen will appear asking you to connect the app with the new sensors that are available through a Bluetooth connection.

We will receive data from three sensors:

• Heart rate from the optical sensor
• Running pack, thanks to the accelerometer in the watch
• Running cadence, also through the accelerometer

So we can have that data in Zwift without having to buy any other accessory, but we could go even further and that is that if we connect an external sensor through ANT+ (for example, a HR band), that will be the data we will transmit through the watch as a bridge between one and the other. This is useful if you only have a sensor that works exclusively with ANT+, because if it is dual you could connect it directly with Zwift without any problem (if the platform you are using does not support ANT+, that would also be possible).

In Zwift, after opening the application you can select the option to run, and the first thing it will ask you is to connect a sensor that shows the pace.

Until today it was only possible to connect specific external sensors such as a footpod, Stryd or sensors installed on the treadmill. But now we can also select the watch itself.

The process of adding the rest of the sensors is the same, doing the search and selecting the watch on the screen that shows up.

And with all the sensors connected we can now go into normal Zwift mode. When we start running the application will be fed with the data we are sending.

On the watch you can choose to start the activity (to record the training data) or simply leave it on the sensor connection screen and make the recording via Zwift and then export it to your platforms of your choice.

This new sport profile will please some, but of course also Zwift (because it offers the possibility for users to enter the platform without any other external accessory).

If something hasn't changed recently, Zwift Run is still in "beta" and is free for any user. Not that it's really in beta mode, it's just open at no cost for you to get to know it and get hooked, they'll charge you later. So if this winter the weather forces you to run on a treadmill or you usually do it in hotels for business trips, download the beta update for the watch and start using it.

In terms of data reliability is somewhat more inaccurate than when we are running outdoors with the use of GPS, yet the calculation algorithms have improved considerably in recent years and of course their information will be more accurate than the treadmill itself (they are not known for its reliable pace data).

And with that... thanks for reading!