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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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.
3000m pool session this coming Thursday. Broken into sets of 100s … keeping the first 100 pace throughout.
2 Hour ride in zone 2
Running St Judes half with my wife as a “hero” fundraiser. We aren’t the heroes, those kids are.
I’m going to hit the treadmill. Slow base miles to get me ready for the corktown race here in detroit….
A 100km ride next weekend.
New Year’s half marathon “Yule”
I’ve got a cold 10 mile training run scheduled for today.
Today awsome 3k swimm
400 WU, 7×300 free descending in the pool, 200 WD
December 27th 5km training at Parkrun in Exeter
We Run Dubai 10k
Happy birthday to me!
Workouts all month for a New Year half marathon
Hill repeats, 200m x how long until the kids are fed up of tobogganing.
10k tommorow before sons awards evening at school…hopefully
Couch potato to 5km workouts.
Christmas morning pre gift opening, 7 miles to Steeles ave and back.
Yeeaahh! A chrismtas giveway…
All of this for only a short 40 minutes @ R1 pace…
Thanks for all your posts on this blog!
… and happy holidays!
My final workout of the year will be the Resolution Run, Dec 31, 2014.
Hilly 10km Ebersheim Adventslauf next Sunday.
I’m not sure of the exact date but I have to deliver a baby.
Local post Xmas 5km run race.
14 miles @ 7:00/mile Long Run with Fast Finish (run the final 15:00 @ 6:30 pace)
Waiting for my KICKR and then trying to beat some neighbors at Wahoo Segments ;)
10k Resolution Run on Dec. 31st.
Ironman busselton – just finished. Time for recovery now.
Looking forward to doing a 60 minute trainer ride on Monday!
Between now and end of year, 3 Masters swim sessions a week – hard to know the details in advance but I’m pretty certain each one of them will be approximately 4000 yards of thinking a bit more rest interval would be nice right about now…
Racing at a local running festival in Houston – doing the half-marathon which is somehow the *shortest* race in the festival. Perhaps my pace will be motivatingly faster than the sturdy souls doing the longer distances (100mi and 24h…)
Silvester Run in Vienna, 5.4km
Half-marathon training sessions 5x a week, rain or shine, snow or sleet. Meditation 2x a week, rain or shine, snow or sleet.
Nice 30km run at the weekend
EZ spin workout and swim for recovery for yesterday’s half-marathon
Doing spin class monday to improve ftp.
run +bike and ski if more snow get ready for winter
Hoping Santa puts the new Garmin watch in my stocking.
Did a 5km Santa Dash Race today, and won! here’s hoping I can win this draw too!
I’ll try to rebuild my normal three times a week 10km running rhythm after a bad cold till New Year’s Eve.
Today was my first 10K training run after my flu-like infect.
Slowly – but arrived at home again. 8-)
Happy Holidays!
Dec. 31st – Officially kick of training for the Boston Marathon!
do a tempo 3 hr ride and NP for 10 sec every 10 min.
I’m in the military, so I have the new and improved Physical Readiness Training to follow. We run M-W-F normally following this: ability group for Mon<30min, Wed 30/60 or 60/120x10reps, or hills, Friday is a espirit de corp run. It works.
Did a half marathon yesterday. Looking forward to mountain biking as much as possible during off season.
60min z2-z3 :)
Post knee procedure run, and if thats not possible then post knee procedure ride on stationary bike/new wahoo kickr!
5K a day! So.. I guess it’s going to be something approximating a 5K :)
I’m planning to do a 13 mile run next Sunday (12/14).
Geneva’s “course de l’escalade”, 3 times around the old town
link to connect.garmin.com
If the Kickr ever turns up Base training on that. 3336-1 you’ve gotta be in it to win it!
biking 2 hours this afternoon (might do it on the trainer though – it’s 35 degrees outside!)
“10km des berges” in Ramonville next Sunday
3KM run on tuesday as part of my build up program due to two months of rest.
60km on the road bike over the Gap of Dunloe, or if it’s icy a trip up one of the local mountains instead.
Chick-Fil-A Athens Half Marathon in Athens, GA on April 18th! I sustained a stress fracture in my hip in this race last year, so I’m coming back to conquer it!
Bastardy base, base in the basement. The Kickr makes the three hour Christmas base ride on the calendar fun if not quite forgivable.
today, in about 5 minutes RMP training on the rollers. W-up, 3 x (1m at (100-110-120-130-140-130-120-110-100), W-d
2,5 hrs endurance run
Running a 50k in frigid Wisconsin.
In-between training sessions so I’m focusing on running at least 1 mile per day Thanksgiving – New Years.
Technically not scheduled anymore since it happened yesterday, but in any case, The North Face 50 miler!
Sub 1:30 Half Marathon
Weeks 2-5 of the 0 to 1 mile swimming program, almost done week 1.
Zones 2-3 on the trainer until spring comes to Central Oregon (probably late May).
Open Water Swim at Lake Coatepeque El Salvador.
10k run with friends next sunday (hopefully not in snow).
15 mile hill run in the hills behind Tirane
5k treadmill run tonight
Skiing today followed by the gym, then possibly a 35 mile bike ride around Northstar up here in Tahoe on Monday!
6 x 800 m intervals with 2.5k warm up and cool down on Monday
Run my first marathon in 2015!
Weston rotary half marathon next weekend
link to westonrotary.com
Yearly Christmas day run. This year in Newfoundland. Always a fun place to go for a run.
Swim workout:400m wu; 3 x 200m fast,45′ rbi; 100m recovery; 2 x 200m faster, 45′ rbi; 100m recovery; 1 x 200m fastest; 45′ rbi; 100m recovery; 8 x 50m every 60′; 200m cooldown
Been out of it and hurt my foot a week ago.
I have sign up to an online training program for first of the year… So I’ll slowly go run a few times during my holiday break.
Thanks Ray for the best website there is for sport and technology review!
Tuesday 12/9: 2 mile warm up followed by two 200M sprints and one 400M sprint
Some sort of early morning beach run, then some snorkeling while on Christmas vacation in Austrailia
All I do is circuit training. But hope to win some tri gear for my husband.
By the end of this year I would like to run 15km around mt Sleza with 350m of elevation. Link to route: link to endomondo.com
Local hill run, 9km / 450m vertical
18k long run next weekend (still building on run length, targeting a 23k race in February) :)
10k on the 18th. Will be a nice barometer after 1 month of a 3 month marathon program.
I’ll be going for a 10km snowshoe hike.
100+ cycle trip
Cold weather shakedown ride- time to figure out what body part freezes first
Group cycling ride today. You can’t beat 40 degrees in December for a ride.
10K tempo run on a treadmill
run 10 miles, bike 70 miles
Am planning my first half marathon next year, so my personal Christmas present will be a 15k run on 24 December.
Maratona dles Dolomites – Etape du Tour double bill.
4.5 mile run through the “hills” of Jefferson County…
The last long runs of the Goofy training cycle – 13.1 miles on Saturday and 26.2 miles on Sunday.
It will be Some walking workouts for me during this period.
I will be working on my core on the next week and swimming at least 2 miles on Fridays.
I will run the San Diego Half Marathon in Dec 28th. First race ever I’ll be doing with my sister. Happy holidays!
50k Training ride on the roadbike next saturday.
A threshold turbo session; 4 x 3 mins at 310w, 1 min recovery between each, 4 x 2 mins at 330w, 1 min recovery between each, 4 x 1 min at 350w, 1 min recovery between each. Followed by a 10k pace run. All sounds like fun eh? Great site by the way!
50k uphill in the Chilean Andes next Saturday
New Year’s Eve long run on the beach.
I love the sufferfest cycling videos and tomorrow I’m riding “angels” on my wahoo kickr.
Getting in my first trainer ride after a 6 month break!
Mountain Trail Half-Marathon in the Siebengebirge (=seven hills) near Bonn, Germany – Sunday Dec 14th 2014 :-))