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:
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.
Lots of random TrainerRoad workouts.
I’ve never done more than a half marathon and my goal is to run 15 miles on New Years day. No race, but just a personal goal.
Yukon-do-it marathon on the 28th.
40 x 100m with 20 seconds rest between. Killer set but ideal for IM training as long as there are no breaststrokers in my lane.
Last week of the year, 25ish mile ride on DC’s Mount Vernon Trail, with a hot chocolate stop in Old Town. Happy Holidays, Ray!
Oxford to Boars Hill. Approx 4 miles.
Local 5k put on by twp food pantry. Called “race for the hungry”. They do it every year during the holiday season.
6k running race on Saturday (06dec), 12k running race on 27Dec.
2.5 hour ride on rolling course, in the cold midwest weather.
90 minute long run tonight, with a 2 mile pickup at 10k pace near the end.
Rest and Recovery week for me.
festive cheers to all
Half marathon tomorrow December 6th in Clonakilty Ireland
This Sunday 13km VO2max (5x800m @ 5K race pace) @ Richmond Park in London.
Tomorrow an easy and steady 10km morning run in Helsinki, Finland. Mostly just to test the prototype running shoes I got. Then a flight to Berlin to ride a hard intervals on the velodrome.
I’m training for a 10K and have a 8 mile run planned for this weekend, my furthest yet.
Triathlon specific club training. One hour swim, followed by a two hour spinning class and ended with a one hour run.
I’m on my way to finish the goal of total 55km of swimming in 50m swimming pool registered with my new Fenix 2 by the end of 2014
Nice 10k training jog along the coast of west clare. Ireland this weekend.
100k indoor training session on my new Tacx Vortex smart if it gets finally working….
10k race on the 20th.
20×10 intervals 2x per week through February!
A 16 km night trail tomorrow in Versailles. First night race for me, hope I won’t get lost or trip on a root!
I’m organizing a Turkey Burning MTB Singletrack Ride on the 27th of December. It’s all about fun in the sand dunes of the belgian coast. It’s gonna be an 80k ride.
I am running the Last Call Half Marathon on December 6th. Trying to run a time that will give me a guaranteed entry to the New York City Marathon in 2015.
Finish focus T25 gamma workout
the now yearly 15k on the 31.12 ;-)
FTP test on the Vortex that Laszlo A owns :)
preride the tuscobia 50k trail course on dec 13 in preparation for the race Jan 2nd
Ski touring on New Year’s night on Ignis Mountain
A sub 2hr half by end of January.
This morning I have a twelve miler planned to make up for slacking over the past three mornings. Hitting my mileage goal for the year led to a short burst of unacceptable sloth. :-/
Nice little jog during this weekends trip to Amsterdam
Triatlon Quepos, CR. BMW Series, Swin 1500 meters at Quepos Marina, 40 km Bike on pacific coast and 10 k run around a 2.5 k circuit on the Marina…
4x(10×50; 1×100) plus WU/CD in the pool
Run 5km a day till the end of the year
10 miler planned on Saturday.
Going to pick my MTB bike from work and ride it back 20KM and maybe a 400metres climb up the Uetlieberg in Zuerich, Switzerland. :)
A Kickr session with trainerroad and Stage 9 of Tour de France highlights this Saturday
With some hip issues from the autumn pounding, it’s 3x week swimming, 1500m a pop with some drills in between.
Bike turbo session, bit of a warm up then 6 X 6 mins 120%, 4 mins recovery.
Silvesterlauf Zurich, Switzerland on 12/14/2012 will be my last race of the year!
Don’t give up training 6 days a week till 2015
Boston Marathon 2015 hope to smash my P.R. there
Running my 10km today at 8am (eastern time). temperature outside is -21 celsius…
Nursing an injured foot right now but I am hopeful for one last 5k to end the year on and starting a base block of bike training!
Locked in the pain cave with TrainerRoad
Trying the new Garmin 920XT and all the new running funcitonality by doing some 1k intervalls.
Lots and lots of turbo work ready for 2015
Outdoor Circuit/cardio/strenght workout:
– 10min warm up (running to the workout spot)
– 4 x 5 climbing 9 blocks of stairs (going up and down)
– 2x 5 x 100m sprints uphill (active resting downhill)
– 3x 15 burpees + pushups
– 10 min cool down (running back home)
The race is the long course duathlon national championship (Ft. Worth, TX). I was originally going to do the sprint course but some National Guard duty got in the way of that. So my coach recommended doing the long course. I am currently training to finish in the top 5. We will see if that actually happens.
90 minute swim session Saturday
Getting back in pool to start lap swimming this weekend – plan to do first sprint triathlon in the spring !
First Sprint Triathlon on 12/14/14… Being working on this for a few months now!
WOC 2013 long distance re-run next thursday.
Next saturday. A nice natuurlijksportief training (www.natuurlijksportief.nl) in Rotterdam (Kralingse bos)
5k swim Sunday morning
My first long run of the season this Sunday: Training for my first Boston!
Reach the goal of 20 pull-ups at a time
Siem Reap Half Marathon on Sunday, 21km through Angkor Temples!!!
9th Marathon or 27th running event for 2014 on December 14, the BCS Marathon!
Baton Rouge Beach 1/2 marathon – 2×5 miles @ set time, 5k race
15 mile long run @ 7:30 pace. Just trying to keep my fitness up after running my first marathon this year.
10k Christmas Day morning run to work up the appetite for the turkey
10 mile run around the bridges in Portland this Sunday
So many workouts to do but one the important ones is 60-120 minutes of indoor cycling each week, so-called “Animal Spinning” :) It’s a cadence training, so I have to tape my sigma cadence sensor to the spinning bike each time and then during training keep the cadence at certain levels, while checking that heart rate is in the required zone from my old suunto quest. Great workout. Our charity team of different people from different backgrounds prepares to cycle from Helsinki to Paris next july so these workouts are essential for our fitness. So next week, the schedule says it’s going to be 90minute training, all about cadence, baby!
Running 6mi today with new shoes
Scheduled workout for right now that I’m avoiding by reading this post :-)
31. MRRC Silversterlauf München on 31/12/2014; 10km. Last day of the year for the last race of the year :)
I’m scheduled for the Christmas Caper 10k, hoping for one last PR of the season.
shooting for the overall at the sprint distance age-group national championships!
Cheers!
14th of December, 21km trail-race in a forrest near my city. Plan to do it in about 1h40min.
Going to do a long ride >100k as a preparation for the granfondo dead sea next month
60′ treadmill workout @ 8% grade. It’s cold outside!! Brrrrr!
Recovering from shoulder surgery and confined to wearing a sling, my goal is to walk a sub 50 minute 5k.
10K in Sanur beach, Bali. That’s my weekend!
First trainer workout since hip survey 8 weeks ago, 30 minutes continuous spin under 170 watts
If painful, back in the pool with a buoy for 45 minutes
A bike ride with total ascent of 3000 meters. This is the part of the trainning for a race event at the end of january.
40 km mountainbike workout in rough terrain!
3 hr Charity Spin for Habitat for Humanity on Dec 6th
Doing 20km on the Bkool Trainer four times a week.
Cheers
Doing advent running
Run everyday between 1st till 24th December
Minimum of a 30min run per day
well today is deserved rest day but tomorrow is a 2 hour bike ride.
I hope to do a local unsupported half, depending on the tide. link to coolrunning.com.au
Thanks DCR and Clever Training!
Jingle Bell 5K in Peoria
On the trainer riding trainerroad ‘Virginia’ as I type this. Putting in some base training in preparation for next triathlon season.
10 K run tomorrow morning
This afternoon my friday 10Km Training run from Home to the Colovray Sportscenter and back Home in an easy pace as my legs are tired from yesterdays biking and swimming. Just need to put on my winter clothes as we approach 5 DC…
Now i hope for winning my brand new Garmin 920XT ;-)
5k run on saturday
Heading out to run some hills this morning!
2 hour training ride this saturday morning
A 15km running race the 21th of December. And the usual swimming and cycling of course. :-)
Park run Saturdays
Swim: 120 minutes sunday
Working at PowermanUSA Florida..Thats a workout of its own
A 10 mile TT on my road bike – first TT I’ve done in 4 years.
My main workout goal is to get my rump out of bed, I’m still struggling from the gluttony of Thanksgiving! Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, german chocolate cake…but I digress.
I’ve got a 1.5 hour trainer ride tomorrow to finish watching Guardians of the Galaxy (great movie). I’ll be riding “Temple” on TrainerRoad (best training software).
I’m doing the Stockport 10 Miler road race on Sunday (Dec 7) – it’s nice and hilly and the goody bag always has some daft stuff in it!
Christmas Run on December 24th. 10k in, hopefully, 42 minutes.
No races left this year. 14 mile run on Sunday
I have a 4 mile run scheduled today. I know, boring. coming off a back injury, somehow I have to get the mileage up for New Orleans marathon in January….