My life is filled with “buttons” and the act of pushing, tapping or clicking. From the moment the alarm ends my ZZZs and starts my day with an option to “snooze” or “dismiss” through a workday of keying words and clicking to find or send information, it’s all buttons, all the time. So when I use a device that’s smart enough to take direction without me lifting a finger, we’re fast friends. It’s like that with me and my Edge 800 bike computer. Love it for the touchscreen because I can start the timer with a touch and then quickly tap to change screens or data fields. Love it equally for an Auto Lap function (found on all our Edge devices) that lets me automatically lap by distance or position—no anticipating or button pushing on my part. I’ve been using Auto Lap by position lately for interval training on a looped course in prep for some local duathlons. Photos by SeeKCRun.

To set Auto Lap by position on the Edge 800:
Tap Menu > tap the settings icon > Auto Lap > Auto Lap Trigger.
Select By Position.
Select Lap At.
Select Lap Press Only to trigger the lap counter each time you press Lap and each time you pass those locations.
When you get on the course, simply start the timer on your Edge as normal. When you pass the point where you’d like the lap to start (could be used on a loop or any course), simply hit the lap button. Next time you cross that point, Edge will know it and automatically trigger a lap, and a small pop-up on screen flashes your lap time and speed.

Check out my Garmin Connect data from a recent training interval session using Auto Lap by position on a looped course.