Getting the most out of DSW (Daily Suggested Workouts)

I’ve used Garmin DSW on and off for many years and I’m a big fan. A few things that have helped me get much better results from it and hopefully will help others too:

Switch target type to heart rate

Hills, fatigue, wind, terrain, bad days… all of these make pace targets unreliable. Heart-rate targeting keeps the session in the intended physiological zone (low aerobic, high aerobic, anaerobic) regardless of conditions, with pace simply emerging from the effort. Using pace tends to push many base runs into high aerobic territory, which skews Garmin’s load balance, reduces the intended base stimulus, and often leads it to prescribe more base to compensate.

Use a chest strap (especially for intervals/sprints)

Optical wrist HR lags and smooths spikes, whereas a chest strap captures rapid rise and drops properly, so harder efforts get classified correctly. Without it, you can execute sprints well but Garmin may log them as high aerobic and start mis-balancing your suggestions.

An added benefit is running dynamics. Metrics like cadence, ground contact time, and vertical oscillation give direct feedback on efficiency. Improving these (e.g. slightly higher cadence, shorter contact time, less bounce) is one of the easiest ways to run faster at the same heart rate or keep heart rate lower at the same pace. Seeing those metrics tighten up alongside steadier HR on familiar routes is a strong sign your running economy is improving.

Walking during base is fine

If you can’t keep HR in zone (e.g. ~144 bpm or whatever your base is), walk–run as needed, especially on hills. Over time you walk less, then not at all. Coming back a few months later and running a route continuously that once forced walks is hugely satisfying and makes base work feel rewarding rather than tedious.

Repeat the same route for base/recovery runs

For easy runs of similar distance, I like looping the same course. It becomes a built-in progress marker: hills you used to walk become runnable, or you finish early and need to add a short out-and-back. Pace data shows this too, but the lived comparison on identical terrain is more motivating.

Take the warm-up seriously

Stay at the low end (or even slightly under) for the first ~10 minutes. Starting too hard causes early cardiac drift, which pushes HR up for the rest of the run and forces slower pace later to stay in zone.

Consistency matters most

DSW works best when you actually follow it most days. If you’re cutting calories or losing weight aggressively, progress will still happen but usually more slowly. That’s normal, not a sign it isn’t working.

Would be interested to hear how others are using DSW and what’s worked (or not).