Getting a structured session onto your Garmin watch or Edge is less obvious than you’d think: Garmin Connect Web won’t accept workout files on import. Here are the three ways to do it — with pros and cons and step-by-step instructions.
Free, with full control over every step.
Works without linking an account, even on older devices.
Nothing to do per session: the plan lands in your Garmin calendar and on your watch, and changes are synced.
80% of your training in low zones (Z1/Z2), 20% in high zones (Z4/Z5+). The most effective approach to endurance performance — backed by Seiler (2010) and Stöggl & Sperlich (2014).
4-week blocks: Build → Build → Peak → Recovery. A systematic increase in load all the way to race day, through the Base, Build, Peak and Taper phases.
Training zones calculated with Coggan Classic (Z1–Z7) from your FTP, HRmax and threshold pace. No guesswork — precise targets for every session.
Pro: Free, with full control over every step.
Con: You build every session by hand and drag it into the calendar — for a whole training plan that’s many minutes a week, and every plan change means doing it all again.
Pro: Works without linking an account, even on older devices.
Con: Garmin Connect Web doesn’t accept workout files under “Import Data” — the only way onto the device is by cable. One session at a time.
Pro: Nothing to do per session: the plan lands in your Garmin calendar and on your watch, and changes are synced.
Con: Needs an app with an official Garmin Connect integration.
The import function in Garmin Connect Web is designed for completed activities, not planned workouts. A workout file (.fit) only gets onto your device via USB into the GARMIN/NEWFILES folder or through an app with a Garmin Connect integration.
Manually and via USB, one at a time. With Summitflow Pace, the next 7 days are always in your calendar automatically — on a rolling basis, without you lifting a finger.
With FIT files that use zone numbers, the watch uses the zones from your Garmin profile. Through the connection, Summitflow Pace sends concrete power or heart rate ranges from your plan zones instead.
Garmin and Garmin Connect are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. Summitflow Pace is not a Garmin product and is not sponsored by Garmin.
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