Garmin workout not showing on your Edge or watch: the documented causes

Find the stage before you fix anything

Open the Garmin Connect calendar first. If the workout is there, the plan service did its job and the device has not synced. If it is not there, the service has not sent it. Scheduled workouts sent to the device appear in its training calendar [Garmin Edge Training Calendar], so check that last.

Each stage has a different owner. The plan service decides what to send and when. Garmin Connect holds the calendar. The Edge or watch holds a copy of that calendar. TrainingPeaks puts the split plainly: edits to a workout reach Garmin Connect immediately, and you also need to sync your device with Garmin Connect for the change to reach the device [TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ]. A workout can be correct in two places and missing in the third.

On an Edge 1050 the copy lives under Training, then the calendar, then the day [Garmin Edge Training Calendar]. Garmin's Edge manuals (Edge 820) add a detail that explains a lot of confusion: when you send scheduled workouts from Garmin Connect, they overwrite the existing training calendar on the device, and a scheduled workout stays on the device whether you complete it or skip it [Garmin Edge 820 Training Calendar]. On that unit, the Edge shows the last calendar it received, and a skipped session from last week still sitting there is normal. The current Edge manuals do not repeat the detail.

Write down which of the three places has the workout before you change anything. Two minutes of looking saves an hour of reconnecting accounts that were never the problem. The same three-stage picture runs through training with a Garmin as a self-coached cyclist: the plan is decided in one place, held in Garmin Connect, and copied to the device.

On the Garmin Connect calendar but not on the device

The device has not synced since the workout arrived. Garmin lists workout downloads among the Edge features that run through the Garmin Connect app on a paired phone [Garmin Edge Bluetooth Features]. An Edge that has been off, or out of range of that phone, still holds the calendar it last received.

The same feature list in Garmin's manual says a finished ride uploads automatically as soon as you stop recording. Garmin's manual does not say the same about workouts coming down, so do not assume a morning sync happened on its own. Turn the Edge on near the phone, open the Garmin Connect app, and sync before you roll out.

Riders with an Edge and a watch often ask which one should get the plan. Garmin's Edge 1050 manual says you can set a primary training device and a primary wearable in the Garmin Connect app [Garmin Edge Syncing]. The manual ties that setting to sharing activities and performance measurements between devices, not to workout delivery. If one device has the workout and the other does not, sync the one that is missing it; changing the primary device is not a documented fix for a missing workout.

If the workout is on the calendar and the device has synced but the session still shows old targets, the device has the old version. Every service that edits a workout relies on the same next sync to replace it. Sync again after the change, not before.

Not on the Garmin Connect calendar at all

Three documented causes: the service is outside its sending window, the workout type is one the service never sends, or the service lacks permission to write to your calendar. TrainerRoad sends on the day [TrainerRoad Outside Workouts], TrainingPeaks the next 15 days [TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ], and AdaptCycling the next 7 days.

Start with the window. TrainerRoad pushes an outside workout to Garmin the day it is scheduled, and a workout on a later day shows Scheduled for Garmin and does not appear on Garmin Connect yet [TrainerRoad Outside Workouts]. Its troubleshooting guide adds that a workout must sit within the next two days to be eligible for that day's sync [TrainerRoad Sync Troubleshooting]. TrainingPeaks sends only future structured workouts, only the next 15 days on a rolling basis, and only workouts scheduled today or later [TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ]. A session three weeks out is missing by design.

Next, the type. TrainingPeaks does not send Strength, Day Off or Brick workouts, and once a workout is completed no further changes sync [TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ]. TrainerRoad sends only workouts marked Outside, does not push planned swim or run workouts, and does not push its FTP tests [TrainerRoad Sync Troubleshooting, TrainerRoad Outside Workouts]. AdaptCycling does not send rest days, because there is nothing to put on a device, and it does not send race days, because you race them rather than follow intervals. A rest day missing from your Edge is the plan working.

Last, permission. Garmin Connect asks you to approve what each linked service may do. TrainerRoad tells riders to log in to Garmin Connect and check that all available options are enabled for TrainerRoad [TrainerRoad Sync Troubleshooting]. TrainingPeaks tells riders to check that it is still listed as a permission on Garmin Connect [TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ]. For AdaptCycling the permission is workout import. If it is off, Account, Data sources shows the line "Switch on workout import for AdaptCycling in Garmin Connect, then reconnect to send workouts to your device" next to a Reconnect button. Rides keep arriving while it is off; only the workouts stop.

When the plan changed and the Edge did not

A changed plan is a new workout that has to make the same trip. AdaptCycling re-sends the changed days after every plan change and on an hourly pass, and the Garmin send button on the day view sends one day again. The Edge or watch still needs its next sync with Garmin Connect to show it.

The common case is a missed ride. You skip Tuesday, the week re-solves, and Thursday's session moves or shrinks. AdaptCycling replaces the changed days on your Garmin Connect calendar and leaves the unchanged ones alone. That happens on the free tier. If you check the Edge before it has synced, you see the old Thursday, which is the same stage problem as the first section.

The Garmin send button sits on any day inside the 7-day window that has a workout to send. Its label tells you the state: it offers to send, to update a device that holds an older version, or confirms the session is already on your device and lets you send it again if you cleared it. Use it when you deleted a workout from the Edge by hand, or when you want today's version on the device now rather than at the next hourly pass. It changes nothing about the plan; it only sends.

The checklist, in order. One: open the Garmin Connect calendar and find the day. Two: if the workout is there, turn the Edge or watch on near the phone, open the Garmin Connect app and sync. Three: if it is not there, check the service's window, which is the day itself for TrainerRoad, 15 days for TrainingPeaks and 7 days for AdaptCycling. Four: check the type, because strength, brick, rest and race days may never be sent. Five: check that the service still has its permission in Garmin Connect, and reconnect it if not. Six: in AdaptCycling, press the Garmin send button for that day, then sync the device again.

Quick answers

Sources cited in this guide

1. 01
   Garmin Edge Training Calendar. Edge 1050 Bike Computer Owner's Manual: Training Plans. Garmin.
2. 02
   Garmin Edge 820 Training Calendar. Edge 820 Owner's Manual: About the Training Calendar. Garmin.
3. 03
   Garmin Edge Bluetooth Features. Edge 1050 Owner's Manual: Bluetooth Connected Features. Garmin.
4. 04
   Garmin Edge Syncing. Edge 1050 Owner's Manual: Syncing Activities and Performance Measurements. Garmin.
5. 05
   TrainingPeaks Garmin FAQ. Garmin Connect AutoSync FAQ and tips (activities and workouts and daily health metrics). TrainingPeaks Help Center.
6. 06
   TrainerRoad Outside Workouts. Pushing an Outside Workout to Garmin. TrainerRoad Support.
7. 07
   TrainerRoad Sync Troubleshooting. How to Troubleshoot Syncing Issues in TrainerRoad. TrainerRoad Support.

More inside Training with a Garmin

Other articles in this series

1. 01

   How to send a training plan to a Garmin Edge

   TrainingPeaks, TrainerRoad, JOIN, intervals.icu and Garmin's own builder: how far ahead each sends workouts and what happens when the plan changes.

   →
2. 02

   Garmin FTP auto-detect vs the guided test: which to trust

   What Garmin's FTP estimate, guided test and auto-detect each measure, when each drifts, and how to turn auto-detect off.

   →
3. 03

   Getting old Garmin rides into a training app

   Why a new Garmin connection starts with no past rides, and the two routes that bring your history in: intervals.icu or a Garmin export.

   →
4. 04

   Garmin Unproductive status for cyclists: what to ride next

   Why Garmin says Unproductive while you get fitter on the bike, and four rules for what to ride next.

   →
5. 05

   Garmin Edge training plans: every option compared

   Garmin Cycling Coach, suggested workouts, TrainerRoad, TrainingPeaks or AdaptCycling on a Garmin Edge: what each needs, how it adapts, what it costs.

   →
6. 06

   Garmin Cycling Coach without a power meter: what you get

   What a heart-rate-only cyclist gets from a Garmin, what needs a power meter, and how to train well on heart rate zones alone.

   →