Heads up! The big Garmin spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8, $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965, Forerunner 265, and countless other Garmin products. 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:
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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.
4
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!
5
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.
Start and follow a 6 week training plan to run a sub 40min 10km next year!
10 miles over the South Downs
Thank you, and Clever Training, for binging Christmas in advance for the most lucky of us….pick me pick me :-)
On sunday I’m going for a Half marathon test run…thi is 5th week of my HM training schedule. I think around 18 km with a portion of 11km at HM pace should do it
If I’m lucky, snow should be invited to the party as well :-)
Long steady endurance workouts in the pool and on thentrainer
Short hilly run (10k) on 14th Dec
Short citytrail run next saturday (or sunday, depending on the rain :-)).
Right now I am injured so I would be happy if I just can walk/run for 30 minutes by the end of the year!
A 8 mile run tomorrow in the local nature reserve next to the River Trent. Hopefully a crisp cold clear day; lovely!
Running 10k in the second round of Frost Cup in Denmark. Still no sight of below-freezing temperatures, though…
This Sunday we have a first running event in our small city where I live. We invited all runners from our city for a ‘long’ run – about 30km around the town :)
And I am going to be there
I’ll be donig the Corrida de Noel in Paris, it would be my last sort-of-a-race for the year (10K fun run).
Just want to go for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea for my birthday (24th of December)…
A 21K run in a 70.3 Triathlon Race Relay! This is my 1st time to join and so excited.
I start my P&D marathon training plan next week, so my first proper “session” from that is nine miles with four at lactate threshold.
7 * 3 @ CP 5 :-) every friday
A 1 hour swim on Tuesday. Swimming is the name of the game this winter.
Hmmmm, i am at 9550 km this year. So still a little 450 km to go this month. Next weekend it is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands and I hope to go around the cobble stone sections in the province Drenthe.
A simple early morning 5 mile Sunday run before spending the day with the family.
15K in Deerlijk (Belgium), 21/12. Great race and enough stands with (hot) beverages afterwards to keep me motivated!
I’ll be doing the Corrida de Noël in Paris. Considering this as a fun warm-up before the Belfast Marathon I’ll be running in 2015 !
Poole parkrun pacing event on Saturday 6th December. Pacing people to 30 minutes.
For now I just would like to run away from the flu. Apparently I am not quick enough :(
Going for a pool swim on Monday and a short run afterwards
This weekend I’ll be doing what may be my last 30k to the top of Le Salève before the snow comes. Only 235km to go to reach my 2014 target!
10 km race on new years eve. End the year with a PB ;-)
Racing a night race in town of Geneva tomorrow. Short, fast, intense and may be slippery in case of rain
I am aiming for a weekend ride of 150km before the end of the year, getting myself a December Fondo on Strava. Fighting the wet weather and trying to refind form after Breaking 8 bones earlier in the year when I came of at club races.
Taking it easy this month. For tomorrow just a nice easy long run, about 10-12K.
The 8 tuff miles usvi is on my list
Ironman Louisville in October
Tomorrow, first recovery 7k run after half marathon obstacle race run called Runmageddon Hardcore which I did on 30th of November. It was -5C and obstacles were also the water ones…ice ice baby
Thanks
To accomplish my cycling distance target for this year, I plan to do the Strava December Grand Fondo challenge.
I’m racing at Glasgow 3 parks event. orienteering around 3 parks in one day. The first park will be announced the day before the race.
I will re-run 6h rogaining. And get all checkpoints I missed :)
Many trainer rides planned, but the one that has me most excited is the 2X20 FTP intervals next week. Thanks Ray, and thanks Clever Training.
I’ll keep on working on TrainerRoad’s advanced century low volume plan until christmas and than it’s going to be a “recovery week” or two :-)
With my new Wahoo KICKR i’m going to be taking on Big M, Bluebell, The Columbian, Gloworm and Billboard as I crush them up Mt Sufferlandria. Come the end of the day I may have been thinking ‘It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time’ but he who dares!
lomond tri club have their Christmas run finishing in the now rather cold waters of loch lomond in Scotland! wet suits are optional
two halfmarathons: Nikolauslauf in Tübingen (Germany) on Dec 7th, and “La Media” in Vitoria (Spain) on 21st.
Trying to keep up getting at least four 2km swims in a week
Nothing exciting but working my way through the sufferfests over the coming weeks’. Oh, and planning a 3 hour turbo session just for the fun of it…
Type: Swim
WARM UP:
400 swim
4 x 100 kick (with a board if you wish).
400 kick with fins
PRE-MAIN SET:
4 x 50 paddles and snorkel at 85% with 5 rest
100 swim good from at 75%
4 x 25 paddles and ankle-strap – fast and relaxed at 90% with 5 rest
50 easy on 30 rest: Repeat set twice through.
MAIN SET:
10 x 75 at 80% with fins and paddles. 10 rest between each.
10 x 50 paddles and ankle-strap (snorkel optional) at 85% with 5 rest.
10 x 25 swim at 90% with 5 rest.
Into 500 at 75 – 80% perfect form and buoy
I had planned a marathon mid-December, but I have to cancel it due to injury. I’ll be support crew for my friends instead. As for a workout, this Saturday I will unleash a horde of Zombies and let them chase me through town for about an hour. It will be fabulous. :-)
In the early weeks of my 20 week training plan for a half marathon, a typical workout would be a fartlek: 10-11 km of easy running with 6 to 8 short (30″ – 45″) reps at a faster pace.
Just to run with no pain in my knees……..
Hill loops next to the swimming pool I work at.
40×50 on :50 at the pool
In the Netherlands we call you Sinterklaas because you are the best
Hitting the tacx Antares rollers for a trainer road session with virtual power via a Garmin speed sensor strapped to the rear hub. Probably gonna be upper under intervals while watching a black and white Godzilla movie.
On Saturday I will take the Antelope workout with TrainerRoad. First the warmup, then 5 x 10 min sweet spot intervals with 5 min recovery between.
T paced run – 10′ warmup, 2X6′ at T pace with 2′ recovery, then 11 min cool down.
Winter bike ride, about freezing temp, with bright sunshine, wearing the right clothes and feeling toasty.
The first long ride – trying for 100km+ – as I turn my mind to training for the 1300km Lands End to John O Groats cycle in 2015.
10km Munich “Nikolauslauf” tomorrow, just for fun and as a break in the more serious training for my first IM next year.
66 min hr zone 1 workout probably up Logan Canyon tomorrow. Really hoping we get some snow soon so I can switch to skate skis.
I’ve signed up for a 10k forest trail race next Sunday. When registering a month ago, I thought it would be a nice race, with a thin layer of snow and maybe a couple of degrees below 0 Celsius.
Instead, we’ve had rain almost every day for the past two weeks, with a little snow in between, and no sign of stopping in the next days. So the trail will be a muddy mess, unless it will get very cold and we’ll have a skating rink instead :(
Football training tonight and football match against Netherlands next Tuesday.
No races, but several bike interval training on my bkool trainer ;)
Many sessions programmed on my KickR. Broke my back in a cycling accident in July and I am recovering. Been running the segments app every day. Next one up is longchamps 20k clm
Having just gotten out of abdominal surgery 12 hours ago, the one-mile walk to work on Monday is probably the biggest test of endurance I’ll face this month. On the other hand, I only started there four days ago, so it’s a walk I particularly enjoy, at least for the initial honeymoon period!
The 31st dec 10km “cursa dels nassos” in Barcelona
One workout is never enough, right. So I am running through the year 70+k a week. Throwing in some swimming drills. And thinking about indoor trainer.
I will be participating in the Krapinski cener race 13. december
5-7 kilometers running depending on how I feel on saturday-sunday :)
Rehab run-walk for 20 minutes following a sprained ankle. Hopefully back in form by Christmas.
No real races coming up at the moment so I’m keeping myself motivated with Strava challenges. Next run workout will be a 21.1km run around a chilly, wintery running track (a bit of wind protection in the stadium).
Midwinterrun, at night, through the heart of the medieval city of Gent
I’ll take it easy this end of year. Just running with no pain in my calfs…
Injured for 5 months, hope to run five times 1 minute with 1 minute rest before New Year.
10K race this Sunday in Thiais, looking forward to finally smashing the 40′ barrier ;-)
I have the Clonakilty Marathon coming up this Sunday.
Danny, Ireland
I’ll waddle down to the gym in my apartment complex and spend 90 minutes on the treadmill.
Boxing Day Swim Aberdeen Nippy Dipper in the North Sea!
Training for criterium racing so lots of high intensity stuff.
Bike trainer session
15m warmup with some peaks @ 110%FTP, 120%FTP, 130%FTP & 140%FTP
10 x 40s @ 120% FTP, 20s rest
8 x 50s @ 125% FTP 50s Rest
10 x 30s @ 130% FTP 30s Rest
Do a long run of at least 3h, around 30-35 km, with at least 1000 m in difference. Also fulfill my goal of 3000 km run for this year (approx. 250 km left).
One vs One swim workout with freshman daughter on her first college swim team!! Yikes!!
Evening run in town when it starts to snow.
The annual Western Athletics christmas gift. This is a 1km handicap, the winner is the person who beats their estimated 1km time by the most, based on races during this season.
Running at least 30 minutes each day through the end of the year.
20K trialrun through the woods and moorland near my house.
200km Audax Ride to continue my YRR streak
10km Fun Run this Sunday – 2 laps of a hilly course…….
Running every Saturday morning until the end of the year at Huddersfield’s 5km parkrun.
Saturday tempo run – WU + 25′ tempo + 5′ rest + 10′ tempo + CD.
Snowrun race in Moscow on Saturday 27th December. This is a 2 man relay with 2laps/man, for 2 miles/lap.
After Xmas, I am heading to the French Alps for some amazing cross country skiing tours. Fresh air, amazing sun lights, pure snow and some nice vertical gains…
First swim lesson with Coach Ruth at Hampton Open Air Pool on Thursday
A MTB ride at the You Yangs
Keen cyclist and runner, but I’m taking swimming lessons to learn how to swim properly with the goal of racing triathlons next year. The next trip to the pool will be for more exercises and trying to do more than 50m crawl without stopping.
Visiting mother in law in London England after 25th and am going to try and run alongside a 200+ yrs old canal system that I found which runs right through to centre of london. Distance is about 24k return so that’ll be a challenge for me but I can always bail out and get the bus or tube back for the return leg.
A 4k swim training this afternoon
Try to start back running after an injury and ski mountaneering if the snow finally shows up around here…
Tomorrow. Body weight exercise then a 2 mile run.
5km hike in the Drakensberg this weekend
I will ride my new Bkool many times throughout December, but I am really looking forward to seeing just how much I will improve up l’Alpe d’Huez with one month of training.
This is also related to what I am hoping to get for xmas: a power meter. When I go do the real thing this summer, it could be very interesting to see just how different a trainer and IRL is…
A more statistically realistic wish is that this blog will continue to stay as awesomely detailed and well written!
Santa Claus 10k run in Munich Olympic Park on Saturday and hopefully some backcountry skiing uphills this winter.
A 10K trail race in the Zumberak forest on the 13th of December.
My planned training session is a 400m easy run before the end of December. I’ve been out of running for nearly 5 months now with plantar fasciitis and hopefully my foot is nearly ready to do a bit of running.
That would be an apls skiing trip, if everything works out well. Fingers crossed!
being on triathlon training plan so swim 1h, bike 1.5h and 2x run 1h each week :)