Select your product to confirm this information applies to you
Viewing Power Curve in Garmin Connect
Power Curve is an individual user metric which provides a snapshot of the maximum cycling power you have produced for a given time interval. An example of a power curve is shown below. The background curve shows your all-time best power output for each of the time intervals, while the foreground curve can display your best effort over the previous 4 weeks, 3 months, or one year for comparison.
Power curve is also visible in the activity details where you can compare the power from an activity to your bests over 4 weeks, 3 months, 12 months, or all time. Example below:
NOTE: You will only see the time durations that align with the rides present during the selected time period.
The Power Curve is useful for setting power-based targets in interval training. By matching the interval time with your maximum power output for hat time range, you can set realistic training goals.
Choose a topic below to learn more.
A power meter paired to a compatible Garmin device. Refer to your owner's manual and search for "power meter" to determine compatibility.
A recorded activity must be at least one hour long.
An activity is saved within the last 90 days to maintain a power curve reading.
Power Curve is determined by comparing your ride history with the highest continuous power output over specific intervals or total elapsed time in your current activity. Some time intervals will include rest/recovery times in the reported number.
Some activities have a higher overall average power for a split, or total activity, compared to what is represented on your Power Curve. This is because Power Curve looks at the elapsed time of the activity, if Auto Paused is enabled you may see instances where the are differences between power numbers in an activity compared to reported power on the Power Curve.
For example, if you ride for one hour at a constant 200 watts but have 5 minutes of Auto Pause time in the last 30 minutes of the activity, those 5 minutes are removed from the activity time but are still included in elapsed time. The activity’s average power will be 200 watts, but the average one hour power would be 183 watts on the Power Curve because Power Curve uses elapsed time for the activity.
The time labels of the different intervals do not represent continuous effort. For example, a 2 minute measurement on the power curve actually represents an interval of 1 minute of effort with 1 minute of recovery between each. So any 2 minute average will capture 1 minute of effort and 1 minute of recovery, while a best 5 minute average will capture 3 minutes of effort and 2 minutes of recovery. Because of this, it is actually possible to have a greater power displayed under your 5 min label than your 2 min label.
You can use your Power Curve as a primary workout target when creating a cycling workout. Selecting Power curve as the target type allows you to select your preferred target interval and even set the percent of interval. Your 3 month Power Curve is used to set these targets. Example below:
You can remove activities from the Power Curve in Garmin Connect. To remove an activity from the Power Curve:
Sign into Garmin Connect from a personal computer.
Select Reports from the side panel
Select Power Curve under the Cycling section.
Select
on the record you want to removeSelect Remove.
The record is now removed from the Power Curve and will be replaced by the next best record.