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.
XTERRA off-road run race @ Woodhill on Sunday, will be really wet n muddy
10 x 1mile repeats on hills, 30sec jogging recovery
I plan to do a longer tour in an area where we plan to have an orienteering competition in 2018.
Teaching my two younger kids to ride their bikes sat and sun. goping for a long loop DC-Leesburg-White’s Ferry-Poolesville Sunday morn.
Running the ERR 10k in Portsmouth Va and then riding 40 miles later in the day.
I’ll be doing about a 50/5 brick on Saturday, then a trip to the pool to grill and goof around in the water with my kids. Sunday I’ll run and Monday do a 30/3 brick.
And hopefully catch up on sleep.
The weekend training plans include a 2:15 bike/15 min run brick on Saturday, 1:45 run on Sunday and my first OWS of the year on Monday!
Friday eve – Beer
Saturday – sweat out beer on bike followed by freezing myself in a lake
sunday – sweat out the beer from saturday evening while running
monday – thank the heavens that I have an extra day off of work. Then realize my head is pounding from another hangover and proceed to sweat out beer on the bike.
The plan is in the neighborhood of 2500 ft of climbing on Sat and Sunday with a run on Memorial Day. (I never ride on drinking holidays……….. too sketchy)
On Saturday, Champions league Final!
On Sunday “camino schmidt y subimos collado ventoso, de ahi a la Fuenfria para subir el cerro Minguete. Bajamos por el mismo sitio y recorremos camino schmidt de vuelta” to sweat out the drinks from the night before.
That’s a trail run in Madrid Mountains, to celebrate that whoever won the day before, comes from Madrid.
Going for a Mountain Bike Ride Saturday morning, Road Ride on Sunday morning and a hike or bike ride with my Fiance on Monday.
3 long bike rides..
Long ride on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. Cheers
First trip to Chicago, so running on the shores of Lake Michigan!
Running 8 miles on Saturday and then taking my daughter and wife to Disney world to visit the mouse.
Saturday: Swim + Bike + Paint house Interior + Kids & building robots.
Sunday: Trail Run + finish building kids play house + BBQ + Kids & building robots.
Monday: Swim + BBQ + Kids & building robots.
Being on a weekend trip which involves a lot of walking I skip the training this weekend.
5k Run, and a 50k cycle
Mile after mile of walking in DT Portland and hiking Cannon Beach. Looking forward to the relaxation :)
It’s the half marathon race weekend. so I’ll be doing that.
but really it’s training for the half ironman.
Run around and across Golden Gate Bridge and cross training in gym.
Unfortunately, I work both Saturday and Monday, but Sunday will be my usual long run and maybe an open water swim if the weather holds.,
Light bike ride – 10 or 12 miles. BBQ for visiting family: Burgers, hot dogs, some ribs.
It’s going to be hot, so I’ll also setting up the “alligator pool” for the small ones in the family: an 8 foot high alligator-shaped inflatable water slide with a big splash pool at the bottom.
Hard orienteering on saturday and long bike ride on sunday
bike and run at elevation
I’m hitting the pool today for a 1200 yards swim and tomorrow I will do a 30mi (round trip) ride from Boston to the end of the Minuteman Bike path. First time doing that!
If I recover in time from the flu I will try a short trainer ride. The remaining time is eat, rest and sleep.
I’ll be going for a 2 hour slow HR based run tonight, a punchy 35km ride tomorrow and cap it off with a 50km cruise on Sunday. That is all.
Weekend = 1 long run and 1 long bike.
Saturday: 60k Bike + 10k Transition Run
Sunday: 15k Run, 2k Swim
A 150km ride, from home to Plan di Montecampione
Some 12 oz curls, inactive rest, and a 5k!
Saturday 1 hour & 30 minutes run and sunday 60k bike ride. Last weekend of training before flying to Hawaii for the 70.3 Ironman.
Not so much training this weekend, only commuting to work by bike …
Short run tomorrow morning, long swim tomorrow afternoon and long bike ride sunday morning
Hibernating in a/c this weekend (and maybe until fall) and a couple of swims.
I will go out running with my 7 year old daughter. Probably won’t be more than 3 to 4 km so I might add some after we are done.
12 miles on the trail with my dad and 40 miles on the bike!
Since I’m still dealing with a stress fracture type injury, I’ll be aqua-jogging in the pool and doing some 12-ounce curls by the barbecue.
Long distance run in the country side!
An hour of Z3 running without sets on Saturday; I’ll likely use it to see where my 10k time is, knowing that I can step it up a notch in a race.
On Sunday, a traditional brick: About 1:15 of cycling, followed by about 25 minutes of running. Intensities should be a bit less than Olympic distance pace.
Monday is my weekly rest day. Always nice when I have a rest day the same day as a vacation day :-)
A short run in the morning saturdaym and hopefully a long bike ride sunday.
Get a few short runs in and some weight lifting to mitigate the BBQ I’ve got planned.
35k bike ride in Limburg, NL
I have a two stage cycling race on Sunday preceded by a short but intensive-ish ride on Saturday afternoon!
just wish the weather could be foreseeably nicer ….
Well my weekend already started today. I did a 160 km ride to a friends place (with him). Tomorrow we are riding 210 kms around lake Balaton. On Sunday I’ll ride back home the same route as today (160 kms). Pretty epic weekend of riding around 530 kms :)
Back-to-back LSD. 1 X 25-35km 1 X 120min
Half marathon tomorrow as part of my marathon training plan, then new running shoes and a 10k on Monday!
Kids football take the cake this weekend… I’ll try and sneak an hour in on the trainer meantime.
The two year old will be at his ant’s, so hopefully my girlfriend will handle the 4 month old so I can do the first road bike ride of the year.
Ciao Ray,
First open water swim of the season this week-end!
Food, food, and more food (with some drinks for good measure) on Saturday.
Sunday is probably for recuperation.
Monday…probably more food.
I’m doing Runkeeper Global5k with addon to be able to call it this week’s long run.
I am going kayaking in a mangrove forest and some cycling
Eat Train work eat work train eat sleep repeat.
Soldier Field 10 Miler
First open water swim in the “Big Pool” (Lake Michigan) of the year!
sunday walking 10km
I’m planning on doing a nice trail run with my dog and some extra cardio workout too. Would love to win so I can buy a new Garmin watch and treat my other half to something too….;)
BBQing, enjoying time with the family, and following doctor’s orders prior to back surgery so no running/biking for the next 6 months =(.
200km Audax event this Sunday, with about 3,000m of climbing. Will be spending Saturday wondering what I have got myself into.
Going to Vegas. Can’t talk about it…
A weekend full of rain is predicted in The Netherlands except for Saturday morning. So Saturday morning is perfect for a long bike ride and on Sunday an easy pace half marathon rain-run sounds perfect. And besides that I will walk with my dog 2 hours a day.
BBQ, Beer, Biking & Birthday Cake
Run and cycling.
peanut butter & banana binge strides
Will do some Tapering for olympic Tri next weekend.
200km audax event on Sunday.
No training I will only go for a 20k race :-)
Nice long weekend. Hour and a half run on Saturday and 3 hours in the saddle on Sunday. All of that topped off with a tapas first as I send my boy off to Madrid for the summer.
On Saturday, going for a 40-mile training ride for a metric century at the end of June. Sunday will most likely be a much needed rest day. And if the thunderstorms hold off, back on the the bike for the commute to work on Monday.
Recovering from an injury in my lower leg, I will see if I can go for a few good walks.
First week of brooks training, so I have an easy 3 on sat and easy 4 on sun, then bbq & brews.
Spin the Lakes Bike Tour 105-172km. Tennis and some more riding on Sunday.
Running Comrades Ultra Marathon!
I’m going to try to beat that pesky 50 min on my 10k and I’m going to celebrate with a couple of beers, whether I beat my time or not.
This weekend I’m going to attempt a brick workout using my local mountain: biking and running up le Salève.
Long run, hike, Kayak.
Test out some new gear.
Bike slow on Saturday, run slow on Sunday.
Recover with steak.
40 mile easy ride on Saturday. Weights and maybe an hour hard on Sunday. Off and BBQ on Monday.
25 mile group ride on Saturday (my first with this particular group), 10 mile run on Sunday
I’m mountainbiking in the Alps! Found a couple of really nice trails that I’m looking forward to! Not really a structured workout, but I’ll still suffer plenty on the uphills :-).
running short and log distance
Starting the bbq eating early and squeezing an easy run in between.
Yo Ray! You da man! I will be swimming and running at the Lakehouse this weekend here in South Carolina, and thinking about all of the soldiers who put their lives on the line so that we can enjoy our great nation and be FREE!
Just doing a 20k in the woods ;-)
Planning to run the Ottawa half marathon (yes, I’m canadian!), but it might be cancelled due to heat/humidity. Fingers crossed the weather’s in our favour!
Saturday is for mental toughness: watching the Giro unfold. Sunday is a 130km gravel ride, followed by 150km back home if the weather is good…
I’ll run fo 2hrs in evening. And a lot of sleep after hard week )
Long saturday hilly workout. Group ride on Sunday.
recovery ride Friday, road race Sunday, crit Monday.
Some BBQing also!
Hiking in Joshua Tree State Park.
Just a short tour on the city bike.
Gonna really let loose and drink at least 2 beers this holiday weekend
Going for a run in my town
run, bike, beer, not necessarily in that order
Camping near Mt. St. Helens! Trail running, rope swings into rivers, s’mores, and getting rained on of course :)
135 km gran fondo called Tartu Rattaralli with ~2000 participants.
Leaving for vacation with the family so…
Sat: airport terminal sprints and kiddie pool laps once at our destination
Sun: a long run and some open water swimming
Going for a proper MTB ride @ Valle Aurina in the Italian northern alps, then a proper romantic dinner with my wife!
Sat: VO2 steps: 1.5h endurance then 6 x 4min at FTP, 4min rests
Sun: Endurance ride (bunch) 3h