Heads up! There’s some pretty substantial sales that just started. For watches, the Garmin Epix is down to $499, and the Fenix 7 to $449, with the Pro editions also $200 off! Meanwhile the top-end Edge 1040 cycling GPS is down to $499, and both the Edge 540 & Edge 840 are also on sale. As is Varia radar for $149. Some incredible deals, and ll the deals are here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
With TPC (The Pro's Closet), you'll save $40 on purchases over $200 with coupon code DCRAIN40 for tech and non-tech purchases!
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
2
Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
3
Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds! It’s a nice break from the day to day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
Easy 8 miles on the trails. Still enjoying all the chocolate goodness.
We did our usual Sunday Morning long run. 10 miles should offset the jelly beans and chocolate.
Spinning on the trainer while the kids are asleep!
13 mi at an easy pace for me on Sunday.
My kids got all the candy this year – I don’t think I even managed a single piece.
20k LSd…a proper sendoff to my bare access..welcoming road glove 2
a few kilometers of cross-country skiing until i realized that the snow is finally too wet…which means spring! #woohooo
50 minute lunch run to make up for a cadbury’s Easter creme egg ‘omelet’
Ran my first 10k race for Easter!!! When is the next one? :)
I have actually planned 2 fold!! I have a hour long bike ride today and a four mile run tomorrow. It never fails the Milk Chocolate bunnies are a weakness!! It just isn’t possible to pass Easter without one… or maybe two.
Sunday morning started with a 2 hour long run before easter brunch with flatbreads and quiche!
Did my last long marathon run on Easter morning (~21 miles). Now bring on the bags on Cadbury mini Chocolate Eggs. They’re like M&M’s on steroids, and I approve of their doping.
I added 2 additional miles to my run on Saturday in anticipation of the large Easter meal. I ended up going on a Kit Kat binge Easter night and will probably add on an extra 30 minutes to my trainer workout tonight.
Any kind of run – even 30 minutes easy, plus I was on the bike yesterday in a preemptive strike.
Since I’ve got a stress fracture I’ll be doing some swimming (~1,200m) followed by 15-30 min of pool running.
Saturday was a 15k trail run (3rd clydesdale) followed by beers with friends.
The plan is a 45m steady run and a 60 minute swim session to work off the two Lindt GOLDHASE :-)
The plan this week is to get at least 3 runs in with and 2 long swim sessions with a long trail ride on a mtb this week.
45 minute run. Although, with all of the extra energy I had from eating chocolate bunnies, there were several fartleks included along the route.
Trainer road Gelena
3×20-minute Sweet Spot efforts; 4 minutes of recovery between intervals. Optional hill climbing drills: elevate front wheel 4-6 inches in order to simulate climbing posture/stress. Done outdoors, find a sustained 3-6% sustained grade with minimal/no interruptions. This pace is well below FTP but still requires a high level of focus to remain on target. Cadence should fall in the 70-85rpm range to simulate climbing demands.
A boot camp class today, and a solid workout cleaning up the bike from a winter of storage sometime this week.
Hill repeats on the bike
Hard brick on Sunday (lots of hills), then I’ll down a heck load of chocolate eggs ;) –<—–this was yesterday.
During the week I'll be doing at least 1 tempo run x-country style as well as 1 long run and 1 brick on the weekend.
1600m of pre-emptive swimming. 10km run after the attack.
As a chef in DC, my easter plans are to cook and serve good food. My workout will have to wait!
18.5 k run to offset 2 cupcakes, 1 piece of cake and 3 mint smoothies..
12km along Seine to enjoy the sunny weather in Paris =)
Beautiful day outside, so 30 minutes of sprints and calisthenics at a local field, followed by 45 minutes of slow and easy laps at the gym pool for 1 hour.
70km LSD indoor bike as it was raining outside. Not the most exhilarating workout but the good news is that I got rewarded with an Easter Egg every 10km :)
10 Mile Long run in the pollen infested south.
Sick – but thinking about training!
8 Mile trail run. Easy.
Did a 4 hour cycling tour in D1.
My weekend was entirely blown through massive amounts of candy and visiting family. I’m going to be repeating a swim from last week that was a rather big disappointment due to a sticking analog clock at the gym. Though I would like to think I can do 300 yrd LT swims in 3:12, I’m pretty sure I can’t and the clock sticking pretty much proved it. So…. Long WU set with MS 3×300 at LT for time with 100 choice in between and a nice CD. Then fit some stabilizing muscle group lifting later in the day.
4 hour tempo ride with friends and great weather.
10 easy miles scheduled, or they would be easy if done at home. Traveling to visit relatives, their roads have a lot more hills, so it will be 10 not so easy miles instead.
45 min run AM and 90 min swim PM.
I guess I’ll just have to burn all that chocolate by doing 1,5 hours of cycling plus a 30 minute running HIIT! If you cheat, you better sweat it!
50 mi bike ride – Eagleman is just 2 months away …
1.5 hour road cycling, still a bit chilly for the end of March but got it done
10 mile run on constant hills in preparation for hiking the Grand Canyon!
since i’m a vegan i don’t eat any chocolate at all, so all i need to do is stay on course with my regular marathon training :)
11 mile run at HM goal pace
Pick me :-)
30 mins of racquetball and an hour swim set! Still won’t really put a dent into all the many types of cookies and reese’s that were consumed…
I ran 14.5 km (~1h) yesterday in order to be fit for my Eastern Chocolathon.
swim and run workout set to start my taper for IM 70.3 New Orleans
3 Gap ride
A slow 10km jog following two 30km hikes on the previous two days, each with over 1,000m of climbing.
8 Miles, 1 for each Chocolate Creme Cadbury Egg, plus some bonus miles. Enjoying the warm up in Minnesota!
5k run in the morning and a 30k bike in the afternoon.
This Easter requires two workouts. Two miles swimming in the pool before work and six miles running on the road after.
My Easter was dangerous for several reasons…I crashed on Saturday hard enough not to want to ride on Sunday. So my Sunday consisted of a delicious brunch, followed by a large desert tray. Large enough to make me not want to talk about it.
Saturday wasn’t a total wash – I crashed around mile 5, and got back on till around mile 35.
Today is yoga day, and tomorrow is reserved for “hot laps” of Central Park. Drill it breakaway style for a full lap, rest for 10 min, then do it again. Fun stuff.
To make up for yesterday, a trainer ride on my KICKR that arrives today.
Ran 23 miles on Saturday, so I took Easter Sunday off and fully enjoyed all the fixings as I replenished my fat stores. :)
I took a proactive approach this year and did a nice tempo run on Saturday to supercharge my chocolate erasing metabolism. I’ll follow up with a nice easy waddle this evening!
A lot of chocolates, a few kms….
16 mi mountain bike.
Today, (Monday):
7 mile easy run. Emphasis on the easy.
Long run on Saturday + gorging on food Sunday = bad time.
Long swim… 1/2 Ironman Relay in one month. Got to be ready for the swim!
Row in the AM, 2 hr ride in the PM
Easter weekend workout:
13.1 at marathon pace (for me, approx. 7:30min/mile).
75 minute run.
A10k run then an Easter egg hunt with the kids who waited patiently while dad went for a run.
Ran an easy 10 miles to recover from a 2 week long viral infection. I thought it was easy but it pretty much wiped me out for the day… guess I wasn’t completely recovered yet.
Mon. – 6 mi recovery run
Tues. – 13 mi w/ 6 tempo
Wed. – rest-cross train
Thurs. – 9 mi, easy pace
Fri. – 9 mi
Sat. – 19 mi
1,280 calories for that bag of jelly beans I ate. Time to make some kilojoules on the powertap. Probably about 100 minutes or so. :)
Sunday’s workout was 2 hours biking on the trainer with some hill sims in the middle. Today is my off day, but I feel that due to the massive amounts of chocolate consumed I should do something. I’ll probably end up going indoor rock climbing.
Hill repeats up the Blue Hills after devouring a White Bunny (that I’m pretty sure was made of white chocolate)
Slow and painful 60-minute run on Monday that reminded me of every second/third/fourth helping of food and dessert I had this past weekend. Short swim Tuesday at lunch followed by a Trainer ride Tuesday night. Hope to feel normal again by Wednesday.
Short 7 mile jog in Singapore while on vacation for the weekend. Good way to sightsee!
8 km @4.25 in my tapering week
45 minutes elliptical, and 30 minutes hamstring rehab stretches and strengthening. I didn’t eat too much candy, just a few Very Cherry Jelly Bellies!
I’ll be putting in a nice 10 miler this evening.
Doing an easy 5 after a long run this weekend.
Putting the bike away and instead picking up a shovel to do landscaping.
5k quick run (for me) today and a 70 min trainer ride planned for tomorrow.
10k run in the morning
I’ll be doing some speed work at the track to help burn off some of those calories.
We began Saturday preemptively with a 47 mile ride followed by a 30 minute swim. On Sunday, we did a 23 mile ride at 90% effort followed by a 5 mile run before heading off to family gatherings to enjoy hugs, laughs, baked glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, jelly beans, and microwaving peeps.
I’ve got a small Godiva raspberry chocolate egg scheduled for today to counteract the 5 mile hill repeat on the agenda.
3 hr brick: 2 hr bike, 1 hr run.
6.5 mile run in the p.m!
5 mile easy run after Reece’s and Cadbury Mini-Eggs and a fantastic Easter dinner!
8km tempo run, followed by long run the next day (20km) following Reese Dark Chocolates!
Not working off easter candy just a 7 day cruise….. Hitt the weight room for what my coach calls tank top arms
Sat 8km run- 90min Bike 5km run followed by 75min hard run on Sunday.
Went with a fun workout for Easter, 15 miles urban mountain biking in Milwaukee.
1 hour yoga and 2,000 meter swim for Monday, Happy Easter!
Got my calorie-burning in first with a 20-mile LSR on Saturday!
Indoor bike trainer
14 mile Long Slow Run on Sunday. Not sure I burned enough calories to offset the small village of peeps that were consumed earlier in the morning. Happy Easter – I used to love the Easter Monday parades when I lived in Europe.
I did my longest EVER run today, 7.65 miles. (That’s nothing to most others but I will be 55 years young next month so it makes me real proud). And I disturbed a few REAL bunnies whilst doing it. Shared a box of Thorntons Classic chocolates whilst zonked out on the sofa 12 hours later…………….!
Well yesterday was supposed to be a 6 mile run, but figured eating enough chocolate til I’m sick was a good enough workout. So next workout is today- 4 mile tempo run… I can feel the chocolate being burned just thinking about it.
Saturday was a 7 mile tempo run. Sunday was an off day spent with family. I abstained from the kids easter candy in exchange for having some wonderful honey baked ham. Today will be an interval swim and a trainer ride.
I played an hour of beach volleyball. It was so much fun!
Still recovering from marathon nagging injuries, but I did 5 hours of gardening Saturday followed by an easy 2 mile jog this morning. I went overboard on 7 layer dip on Easter!
no easter candy this week! but to undo the damage from last week (peeps, lindt truffles, mini eggs… all in browned butter cookie form) a 1hr trainer ride and 5mi run.
I was supposed to run 9 miles in preparation of next week’s Cherry Blossom race, but I have a knee injury, so was only able to clock 1.2 miles before my knee gave me trouble. I made up for the deficit by eating plenty of Starburst Jellybeans, Reeces peanut butter cups, cadbury mini eggs, and Pez. I’m a candy-eating BOSS.
Only 4 miles. Tapering for Boston.
Did 50 miles on the bike yesterday in preparation for Easter dinner. Today 7 mile run and a mile in the pool.