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.
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.
My last workout was here in Berlin on Monday at 7 a.m before a computer network conference (cisco). It was along the river spree, do we saw both east and the West part of Berlin. Absolutely beautiful.
my training plan for last weekend : 15 km / pace 5:20 .
Using a Hal Higdon plan to train for Boston, so I was supposed to race a half marathon. Saved the registration fee and did the 13.1 as part of a local group run for marathon trainees. Followed that Sunday with about an hour on the bike trainer watching the latest two episodes of The Muppets.
There was plenty of rain at my place last weekend. I managed to go running during a break, though. This way, I was able to complete the 25K that were on my training schedule for Sunday (I’m preparing for Paris Marathon in April).
Last weekend for me was FTP test on Saturday and really long MTB ride on Sunday.
Saturday – Strength training at the gym for 1:15h
Sunday – 5k run
I know, not that impressive! But that’s about to change if I will have a Fenix3 HR on my wrist! :D
Brutal cold weather here in the northeast US, so the outdoor runs were moved to the treadmill. 8 miles one day at 7:45 min/mile and then 4 mile run of 7:30 min/mile for the first 1200m then 7:00 min/mile for the last 400m.
wet and cold 10k on slippery ice covered roads.
I swam a bit on Saturday, and then did half my planned interval session. Sunday I went out for a short run.
8 mile group run in -4F temperatures. Brrrr.
I changed the drivetrain on my recumbent (which takes a remarkably long time due to the amount of chain faff…)
That has to count as a workout, surely.
I haven’t been motivated to do any running lately so instead I ate chocolate cupcakes with Nutella frosting and had a glass of milk to make the whole thing a bit healthier.? Then I went for a long walk.
Enjoying the 70 plus degree weather the past 5 days in the Bay Area. So tan lines with the extra mileage was not to pass up.
Hi,
It was a rainy, lazy week with 9k of running.
several 7 minute workouts, a long run and a indoor bike session……love the weekends
On the CompuPainer: 5 x 10min at 95% FTP … ouch!!
No training at all, the whole house came down with fevers. Back to the schedule today though.
I did 10km of cross-country skiing. It was my first time on cross-country skies so at the end I was quite exhaust.
Did a 2h MTB ride
Absolutely nothing, bit of Man flu kept me inside and on the couch
Because I’m traveling, Saturday a 30 minutes run on the treadmill and on Sunday, 30 minutes on stationary bike and 15 running on the treadmill.
did 3 x 500m of swimming on sunday, would love to take a 920xt with me in the future.
Working through an injury now so my ‘workouts’ were PT and some gentle yoga.
10 mile run on Saturday and a 30 mile ride on Sunday. The pool was also on the list but never quite made it!
Started the weekend of with a 15mile trail run Friday afteronn, then I did a nice tempo run on Saturday and then an easy run on Sunday. I’m in the middle of exam season so there is not too much time for training unfortunately.
1 hour Bike to Judo, 2 hours Judo and 2 hours bike back on Saturday. 1:55 steady run on Sunday
After the flue, just a 45′ run last saturday and a 3K swimming on sunday
2k swim, 21k run, 1.5h Trainerroad
Saturday was a friendly, cutthroat race with my two cycling buds up my favorite SoCal climb. I didn’t finish last, so an awesome ride. Sunday I tried (and was mostly successful) to avoid the LA Marathon while still getting in a good ride. Kinda a lonely hearts sojourn, but no regrets Monday morning. :)
A quick 5k run in Hong Kong. Vacation just doesn’t allow much.
Saturday: 3.25 hours in back-to-back group computrainer sessions at a local training center (breakawaybikes.com).
Sunday: Aaaaabsolutely nothing.
Monday: Had the day off for President’s Day so this still counts as weekend. Rode Zwift for an hour, rider’s choice. Got the sprint jersey on the reverse course, and finally managed to snag the 50mph badge.
Indoor training all weekend – Boxing cardio Saturday and heavy weights thrown around all Sunday morning.
Mountain biking in the woods on sunday, very wet and also very relaxing.
this weekend had been utter chaos, but I do have good intentions for the next weekends…
40 mins on tacx vortex smart
Had a big week on my Kickr with TrainerRoad! 304.6km
Monday – 32.8km
Tuesday – 49.1km
Wednesday – 33.6km
Thursday – Rest
Friday – 34.2km
Saturday – 82.1km
Sunday 72.6km
Rest day on Saturday (which was good because the high was in the teens!) and an easy 3-mile run on Sunday (in the snow no less!).
I did some weight lifting as I recover from a jumpers knee.
Metric century bike ride outdoors.
I lifted weights 3 times and used the elliptical 3 times. Also got up to 5kg lost since I started exercising!
Last weekend I wanted to get in a “maintenance” long run and indoor ride. Normally Saturday would be the run and Sunday my ride, but given the colder weather in MN I switched them around. My running temperature still ended up quite cold @ 11F with a “feels like” of -2F.
I feel bad for those in Mpls who ran a local 5k on Saturday when temperature was -4F and the wind made it feel a lot colder!
Very light cycle and a game of touch rugby to mix it up.
I was traning to wake up every 3 hours to feed my new son ;) No garmin for that hehehe
Unfortunately, my weekend didn’t contain any running. All I did was some foot exercises for, what I suspect, my plantar fasciitis. =( Monday (day off for me, so technically still weekend?) I did a FTP-test on trainerroad. Increased my FTP with 5,2%. Glad some things go my way!
Ran a new PR on the HM: 1:28:34
oddly enough, last weekend shows blank… Lets just say ‘recovering from shoveling snow’
Should have been a 40 mile ride, plus my first 10K, but I ended up bailing on the ride. I’m so lame, but I did run my first 10K!
I swam my first Masters swim meet since shoulder surgery last year.
Lots of strength training at the gym and a few spin classes. It was in the high 80’s in Los Angeles last week, so running outside was not happening.
Hammer and Chisel workout discs
Walked >10,000 steps each day, cleaned house and made my schedule for when spring finally arrives. Sorted garden seeds and made planting schedule, made list of seeds to order. Inventoried honey bee equipment and crabbing supplies and made a shopping list of things to buy.
My training for last weekend was an easy 5km on saturday and 16km on saturday in extreme cold weather under -30 Fahrenheit !!!
a 27K run, new record for me …
hungover and flying back from ski trip Saturday and sunday I went on a nice bike ride before running with the wife!
I did a 20×100 swim in 1:40 pace on saturday and an easy jog with a friend on sunday
cheers
I tried to do an easy bike ride with some short series on 12 to 20% ramps but two punctures before the 3km mark set me back home. So I went for an easy ride worried about what happened with my bike.
Technical multiple 35km wattbike sessions and a 65km MTB training session in prep for a 200km MTB race this weekend
Three 5k runs and four 1 hour long gym sessions!
Saturday I had a 4K run to work and a 3k run home, different routes obviously. A trainer would be awesome! Thanks ray!
Treadmill LSD. Still a little cold in the north to venture outside for too long
Hill workout on Monday on the treadmill followed by a light swim (1000m). Rock climbed on Tuesday as my strength training for about an hour. Took a break Wednesday then on Thursday went out for a 15 mile bike ride. Friday I took off.
a few easy runs and a long one exploring a new trail.
saturday 1 hour indoor cycling, sunday 2 hours indoor cycling, it’s winter here.
Swimming training (4×500 m) and 10km steady run.
I did ‘CycleOps VirtualTraining – Col du Télégraph’ on My Kickr, stair-running at the water-tower in Esbjerg, Denmark and finally ended the weekend with some trail running along the west coast of Jutland.
Did 8 miles on a treadmill since it was a blizzard outside on Saturday and some circuit-style cross training on Sunday. Looking forward to some better weather to get outside more often!
Arrived in Dar Es Salaam (honey moon), so no training last weekend. I did, however, run 2×5 k the last two days, in Zanzibar.
Planning a nice long ride with a friend visiting from the States. a lot of hills and sweat coming our way!
50 minute progression run on Saturday (which I blew off causa bad weather and did a Zwift ride instead), & then a 90 minute base-building ride (with a couple LT efforts) on Sunday.
Cold and snowy in Valparaiso, Indiana. So, went to the YMCA for a run on the treadmill, some quick leg strength stuff, and a very short swim! Good luck to me!
I recovered from a large blister on my foot.
I am currently at the break from training. I hope just to walk 10 kilometers.
Long ride followed by brick run on Saturday
Sunday was a long run
swim drills, and some running
Unfortunately none, as I was sick
No swim
3 rides, 2 indoor on trainer road, 1 longish 45 m with HIIT
2 runs 6 m 1 HIIT, 1 fartlek
2 cross trains of 45 mins
1h long pool swimming (mostly technique), 24km long run at easy pace (~5:00 min/km), 2h long ride on the Trainer in second HR zone.
two tempo training sessions: a quick 1:32 half marathon and a 90%ftp bike session for 30mins.
Saturday was a 2500m pool swim and Sunday was 10k on a treadmill (blech!)
I am recovering from a shoulder operation from two weeks ago (delayed effect of a skiing fall three years ago), so only training the past two weeks for me was walking 8-10 km a day, either to work and back, or just leisurely.
Today I was cleared by my physiotherapist to go cycling on a stationary bike (sitting upright), so hopefully I will restart some training.
A short 5K part of a local winter series here in New England. Wind chill be damned. :)
lazy weekend, two slow and short runsies
Base building for tri season – long run and swim Saturday, followed by a long bike Sunday
Quick interval run outside during a break in the weather on Saturday, then back inside due to sleet and snow for a long run on the treadmill on Sunday.
I took a much needed rest day on Saturday. Sunday I got back into the groove with a 10 mile run.
I did three SSTs, keeping 290-300 Watts in a 111 km long workout, each SST was ~29 minutes long and it went quite well. :) Despite of the 1623 meters of climbing I managed to do a 28.6 km/h average. With fenders on, winter clothes, etc.
spent some time with the Kinetic Inride, but unfortunately spent nearly as much time troubleshooting issues with TrainerRoad and Zwift.
bouncing back from a week-long cold in the chilly Northeast U.S., so Black from Trainerroad twice on my trainer in my basement, and two 4 mile treadmill runs.
24k run and 2000m swim – followed by some beer
I coughed and hacked and blew my nose and coughed some more. It wasn’t pretty. Long slow easy distance ahead next weekend.
On Saturday my Tri club took over another pool (ours was in repairs so our regular swim session was cancelled). Wasn’t planned or anything, but half the pool by that point with from the club. Sunday I did a Sufferfest Workout on the trainer, and then Monday (long weekend here in Canukistan) watched the Walking Dead on the dreadmill.
Sunday was a cold and snowy 17 miler.
Saturday – just quick run 8k – the weather was terrible, Sunday – day off:)
It was ten below zero in New England so it was trainer time!
Sunday 90min long run as part of my half marathon training :)
Long trainer ride on Saturday but no workout on Sunday!
Rode to work a couple days in the week and enjoyed steady ride on the Sunday to ease back into the training schedule
Went for a run on Saturday. Nothing major.
20 mins on cross trainer+10 mins on rowing machine+2×25 bench press+2×20 quadriceps curls and a some minor abs, all in all in 48 minutes and that is what I could get done during my lunch break at work.
I spent two days snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies, tacked on to a business trip, Ray-Maker style!