Heads up! The big Garmin annual spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8 (first sale to date!), $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965 at $499, the Forerunner 265, the new Instinct 3, and countless other Garmin products including inReach Mini 2. Plus the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium is on sale, and some Suunto & Wahoo product deals too. Full list & thoughts 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:
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/Drones/Action Cams 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 (including drones & action cams!)! 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 2024 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.
Traveling for work so I’ll be in STL running 4 miles in/around the Arch to combat a bad combination of cadbury eggs and bloody marys yesterday!
I avoided any Easter Candy, but I did have an Easter Milkshake. So I went for a 15-mile bike ride to help burn it off.
Gate-city half marathon on Saturday
i did a 3
0km biking today
Long run…2.5hrs. Should offset lots of eggs!
9o min Sunday long run!
I’ll be doing the Goddard workout (link to trainerroad.com) to try and burn off some of the calories consumed at our Sunday Easter brunch.
Since I am dealing with a knee issue from speed work then recent race; I am doing upper body weight lifting, core work and deep water running. This way it will take off the stress on my tendons behind my knee.
Weakness came from Starburst jelly beans, will have to do 500 crunches and planks to make up for the bag that I ate over the holiday weekend.
Only a 10 miles easy run…..fat burner!
I think I will do a spinning lesson
I ran my first 10k race this weekend, and now my goal is to improve on that time. I love that distance!
Just a Yoga workout :-)
Decided to add my Sunday workout to my Saturday so I could justify killing the Easter buffet and doubling up on dessert. Ended up with an hour swim, 3 hour bike and 45 minute run. More pain, less guilt.
Easy run up and down the beach a few times… until I feel the need for more easter eggs at least
now that the snows are subsiding it’s back on the trail for a 50 k ride. White chocolate bunny
6km run/ walk with my 7 y.o. daughter :)
Long Ride with interval hill training
did an hour of intervals on my tacx trainer, 5 minutes and 2 minutes intervals
Bike hill repeats. Not as many needed as I was able to get through easter without one bunny, chicken or egg passing my lips!!
Sat on the couch yesterday with interval eating. Running 10miles today with Cadbury carmel filled eggs getting scrambled in my gut!
first outdoor ride in ohio of the 2013 year!
Sunday’s are my off day. So, I played golf. I walked it though. And played terrible. Guess I should stick to swimming, riding and running in a linear fashion.
Cycle 40km with two 10km climb to burn burn burn….
Easy bike ride.
Playing soccer and riding my bike thanks to the Cadbury candy-coated chocolate eggs!
probably do 4k runs for the next few days.
24 mile ride and a 5K run for my Easter Sunday brick!
3h running @ Cold Spring Harbor, NY
25 mile ride & a 3 mile run
30 mile gravel bike ride on a beautiful sunny, but windy Easter afternoon.
Turn-by-turn directions is the one thing missing from my iPhone-based cycling GPS system since switching from a Garmin Edge 705. The Wahoo RFLKT’s support of this feature would be a great addition, besides the awesome battery life.
I don’t celebrate Easter and was observing Passover this week, so no chocolate bunnies in my life. Anyway, hard to find them in fair trade dark chocolate. Still, while I had considered a ride yesterday, I didn’t make it out due to necessary work on my venture project’s website and I was glad it meant I missed the rain, too.
Not sure about a ride this week with all my preparations for classes this weekend, however I’m looking forward to a 20–30 mile ride sometime next week as I continue training for the Hazon Golden Gate Ride. Anyone else feeling generous? Feel free to drop a donation my way.
4 mile run. Not enough to burn off all of the jelly beans.
Indoor bike for 30 mins and burn!
60 mins slow. Working off French Silk pie AND banana pudding – several thousand calories.
I’m going to be running with my kids in the Bob jogger (~45min steady pace). This way I’m carrying my own extra chocolate weight, plus the extra candy weight from the two kids!
1.5 mile run, followed by another, and another…..
Swim. Please excuse duplicates does not seem to be working.
Late Night Trainer Spin – for the love of Dove Chocolate
60 mile bike with 6K elavation gain which deserves two chocolate bunnies!
Hey, I’m Jewish so no Easter candy for me! However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t pig out this weekend, so I’ll be doing at least a 10 mile ride tonight to work it off…
Olympic Distance race simulation. One hour bike followed by about an 8 km run, both at race pace.
An extra large Cherry Ripe flavored Easter egg did most of the damage!
8 mile run with a couple sprints at the end
Run 4 miles with 15 second sprint intervals every 3 minutes.
Since I just had surgery today (no this is NOT an April fools joke), I will be hobbling around as best as I can for the next two weeks. So, that means that I will not be partaking in chocolate bunny decapitation. Unfortunately. :-(
20km mountain bike ride, body surf 30 mins ready for more chocolate
I’m riding to/from work everyday no matter how cold it is in the morning. As far as the candy that did it it would be easier to list the only thing I didn’t eat… Peeps.
100K on the bike, as soon as I return home (travelling at the moment).
I just got back from my 45 min treadmill hill run followed by 45 mins swim drills with my local triathlon club :D Love me some of those CremeEggs and MiniEggs! Mmmmmmmm!
Did 13.8 mile ride today to break in a new Karakoram. Nine hundred calories burned – felt great and the weather was fantastic – used Cyclemeter – great app!
need to get in a nice long trainer ride (still cold in MN)
Tomorrow is going to be around 50 degrees (thank god spring is here), so I’ll be working 2 hours on the bike with 5 minute intervals to work off the box of chocolate covered pretzels I managed to finish… Oops.
My wife and I ran a 17 mile long run that was on our schedule for Sunday.
My workout will be because I consumed skittles, twix, oreos and an easter bynny baskin robbins cake.
I will be doing weight lifting and sprints
19.6mi bike ride in St. George, UT today and planning to hit the Santa Ana River Trail (Aneheim > Newport Beach) with daily 20+ mi rides every weekday this week! Hope this gives me justification to nibble on the left-over Easter candy throughout the week. :)
I’ll be trying to get over the cold that I got on Easter weekend. Might have some chocolate after that.
44 mile ride to work off the brunch and bellinis, 15 mph headwind on the way out made for a fast and fun return.
Woke up nice and early Easter Morning for a 6X800 speed workout so my Reese’s peanut butter egg would go down minus some guilt.
Spin Class! Good 20 miles up intervals
Did 27.8 miles on the bike today to burn off Cadbury Eggs
An easy 20 min walk around neighborhood…did not succumb to major weaknesses on Easter so not much payback involved.
45min Crit on Easter Sunday (after lunch w/family) & then plenty of 1min Anaerobic Intervals on tap for early in the week!
Hill repeats covering 1,160 feet over a 3.7 mile climb. I’ll be eating them for lunch on the hill behind my office instead of the delicious peeps and creme eggs that were had.
I have today attempted to get back into training after injury, with my sites on a half marathon on saturday which I haven’t fully trained for but was okayed to attempt. hopefully it will help from my candy infused runs ;)
Ride to the local Germany Bakery, 27 miles there and then back. Only after a delicious strawberry/rhubarb strudel!!! No Easter candy or eggs for me! I have my priorities….
I expect a 40 minute tempo run will do it!
Easy 7 miles, to help offset all the jelly beans I took from my kids.
Those darned mini eggs (a package or two) has necessitated a 90-minute brick workout. Does that mean I can have more. :D
I had a race on Saturday, so I took Easter Sunday off and took it easy today. I’ll be burning off my Robin’s and Cadbury eggs by cycling an hour and running 3-4 miles tomorrow!
Well easter candy is definitively the chocolate bunny, but it’s the sunday morning maple syrup brunch that made me work out a little harder.
2 hours bike ride followed by 1 hour brick run. Enough calories burned so i now feel good! ;-)
I got hooked on running about 10 months ago, partially due to DC Rainmaker. I got from 1.5 miles to 7 miles run and aiming for a half marathon this fall. Keep up the good work Ray!
47 mile bike followed by a 3.5 mile run. Unfortunately, I ate enough candy to even it all out…
Considering I’m just ramping up for the season and we had a wild storm blow through on the weekend… 10 mile run on Friday, shovel snow, 40 minutes on the trainer on Saturday doing 30/30s after a 10 minute warm up then shovel snow, 5 km recovery run on Sunday, then shovel snow,.. oh it was sunny today… 5 km of Fartlek and enjoy the sunshine.
The gluttony began actually on Saturday with a very large prime rib dinner. Though I felt good about it as I had completed a 8.2 mile run that morning. Sunday continued the indulgence with the entire smorgasbord of Easter favorites from orange glazed ham to sharing in the kids egg hunt candy score.
Today to help dig myself out of that morass I did a 5 mile tempo run and a circuit training workout session for a total of almost 2 hours this early morning. Then took a nice hike/walk with the kids in Rock Creek park.
On the first not-too-cold-to-ride weekend in March, I rode 10 miles on Saturday and 11 on Sunday! Probably saved me from the worst of the damage!
Did 13 miles of hill running, had a problem with jelly beans, just can’t seem to stop until they are gone.
2.5 hours on the trainer!
7 mile long run in the am!
12 mile ride yesterday, getting ready for my first tri this weekend!
2000 meter swim workout early in the morning.
An easy 4-miler on my own, and then some soccer with the kids. They need to burn that sugar, too!
10 mile easy run at night
Adding some speed this week (8×800 @ 10k pace).
9 mile run – makes up for all the Cadbury Creme Eggs I have been eating.
Jelly beans and mini eggs do me in! I’ll be easing back in to outdoor running as it’s getting warmer, probably with some speed work thrown in.
Medical issues, so no exercise until the doctor says otherwise. :( Therefore radically limited candy intake too. :(
Daniel’s Running Formula, White plan, part four day one.
Low point candy wise was using an Easter egg (instead of fruit) for dipping in the chocolate fountain.
Chocolate. And a monday bike ride to burn the extra fat…
Heading out for a 300k bike event in Santa Cruz this weekend
I never get lucky on these things!!! Almost 2500 people!
Whatever. My next workout will be a 7k run. I’ll be running after easter bunny!!
A ride from DC to Harper’s Ferry. 60 miles should burn off a couple bunnies!
A 60 minute cross training workout on my bike trainer.
next workout: 10km on wednesday.
lot of fat to burn
Whoppers Easter Robin Eggs (tell the truth, you pictured them in your mind just by reading the name). I thought the days of eating those were long gone…but my kids brought home some, like an animal who’s been in the desert for too long I devoured them, I couldn’t tell you which colors I ate as it all just became a blur of guilt, memories and sugar rush, it was awesome in a sick way. My kids just stared, mouths open in disbelief.
So, “getting back’ week has just started, on Sunday, right after my chocolate debacle, I decided to start the mental and physical cleanup by climbing my way to Jamestown, CO from Boulder. The hour long, 1,200 ft climb was a great start and a great way to get over my guilt, flying down hill with a group of tri-athletes was the icing on the cake. I plan on doing it again on Wednesday and then on Saturday doing the trip to Ward with its HC climb of over 2,500 ft, epicness ensured.
4km swim time trial.
70km ride plus a 20min crossfit workout. Ate way too much of everything on the weekend. Mainly hot cross buns.
While I didn’t eat much Easter candy, I did work in the yard for about 4 hours. Then I went for my longest bike ride in years, I even included what my local area calls hills – causeways. And to top it off I went for my longest run in, well, over 10 years. It was a hopping day :)
My “candy” would have to be two bowls of chocolate something with caramel ice cream … But I did manage to get in 2000 yards of swimming, a 56 mile bike, and a short run on Easter so I didn’t feel too bad about the ice cream.
My “candy” would have to be two bowls of chocolate something with caramel ice cream … But I did manage to get in 2000 yards of swimming, a 56 mile bike, and a short run on Easter so I didn’t feel too bad about the ice cream.
IM in 4 weeks. No rest for the wicked. 180km ride and 10km run
I fell off the bike, broken collar bone, ribs and broken 310xt