New Leak: Garmin adds Coach SWIM and Coach WALKING Workouts
Source: @JohnW, thank you
Garmin is about to add more pre-made workouts for us to follow, this time covering SWIM and WALKING. I’m not 100% sure to what extent these are new (I think they are wholly new), and the swim workouts likely complete the recently announced Triathlon Coach feature. That then raises the question “What are the walking workouts?”, Perhaps there is a new wellness/activity coach planned as well?
I assume these are for Garmin COACH and/or Garmin Daily Suggested Workouts.
Whatever the motivation turns out to be, these are the themes the new workouts cover.
Swim Workouts
Garmin’s new swim workouts are structured to cover technique development, endurance building, pacing, and recovery, targeting swimmers of varying levels with different training objectives.
- Technique Focused: Several sessions target freestyle mechanics, including pull technique, kick efficiency, and tools like pull buoys and drills to refine form.
- Endurance & Stamina: Workouts include longer reps and cruise intervals to develop aerobic capacity and stroke consistency.
- Intensity Variation: There are high-intensity sessions aimed at increasing speed and the ability to maintain strong form under fatigue.
- Recovery Sessions: Low-effort swims are included to promote blood flow and muscle recovery.
- Race Preparation: Timed workouts help athletes peak for upcoming events.
- Open Water Compatibility: Some workouts are suitable for open water swimming, offering flexibility in training environments.
Walking Workouts
The walking workouts emphasise brisk intervals, long-duration walking, recovery, and stress management. They seem to combine fitness goals with wellness and mindfulness.
- Endurance & Fitness: Many sessions involve long, brisk intervals or sustained efforts to raise heart rate and boost metabolism.
- Interval Training: Frequent use of moderate to high-intensity intervals to improve cardiovascular health and walking efficiency.
- Recovery & Wellness: Easy and short walks are designed for active recovery, especially after intense activity, poor sleep, or travel.
- Mindfulness & Mood: Some walks incorporate breathing awareness, nature exposure, and stress relief, highlighting a holistic approach to fitness.
- Adaptive Intensity: Workouts adjust based on readiness indicators like sleep quality, stress, or Body Battery, encouraging personalised, sustainable progress.
Take Out
Whilst walking workouts are not my thing, they seem like a great idea for those they might be suited to. Nice move, Garmin.
I’m excited about the Forerunner 970 and trying out one of Garmin’s new triathlon plans, hopefully including the swim workouts mentioned above. Can Garmin’s Triathlon Coach build, peak and maintain fitness across three sports where you have different ability levels, all leading up to race day? Can it incorporate Swim Tuesdays/Thursdays and a bi-weekly long-ride/run Sunday? Will it suggest Brick workouts near race day? That’s VERY hard to do correctly in a personalised and dynamic way, and that’s probably why Garmin has taken so long to get to the point of releasing the feature. Still, we pay a lot for these devices, so it’s nice that Garmin seems to be moving forward positively.
There are so many angles we could discuss about how triathlon workouts adapt to readiness, or how they incorporate strength workouts (actually, I think that’s missing right now from Garmin’s triathlon piece) and how they might affect the mainstream plan providers – Jo Public would surely use a free plan.
I’m a little surprised at the negativity surrounding the 970 and its features from some influencers. For me, the news on the release day was exciting, and the three leaks I’ve posted today show more of what is to be added…and stuff that might be useful. Or at least I might find it useful. Maybe that’s why I’m excited! 🙂
Enjoy
Last Updated on 11 April 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID
Do you interpret walking like „lets walk after the heavy Sunday meal“ or like a sport?
The sport walkers are fast a.f., reaching paces lower than 4min/km (on a national championships level). It reads that also Garmin sees it both ways.
For people who are less fit than you and me. Maybe for very light recovery
Any info at all if this will on ONLY Forerunner or on older (Instinct 2 here) via Connect+ ?
I am a walker myself and with periods when I do not coach myself I can see this usefull.
my opinion: it seems that as things stand, Garmin isn’t offering features for subscription to older devices. maybe they will do that down the line, IDK. I would imagine it is not straightforward to implement.
I doubt Instinct 2 will get anything on the device via c+ as things stand. i could be wrong.
Overdue — swim has been the neglected child of Garmin Coach forever. Worth tempering expectations though: canned plans solve the “what should I do today” problem, but the ceiling stays low as long as the underlying builder can’t express real swim training (send-off intervals, proper zones). A plan that can’t say “leave on 1:30” is a lap schedule, not coaching.
That gap is exactly why third-party swim builders exist — I run one (AquaPlan, disclosure) and the most common reason people show up is “Garmin can’t write the sets my coach gives me”. If Coach Swim ships with the same four step types, that won’t change.