Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list 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 2023 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.
This week’s long run will be building on my existing base. 24k at 5:15km . It’s been one tough winter on runners here in the East Coast of Canada.
I call this my legally required workout, (training for 10k race on my lawyers corporate team) going through a divorce. 1hr run with my lawyer, initial pace slow (15-20 mins), reduced price legal consult, remaining time in a breathless state at no financial cost. Overall result, lawyer and I get a workout and I get a few minutes of legal advice at reduced cost!
Going for a swim with my daughter and husband on Saturday. Potentially much more of a workout for my 2 year old than me, but it’s great fun to splash around all the same
Back to back long runs Saturday and Sunday (90 min, 3 hours) without my IT Band exploding.
8 mile point to point trail run over snowy terrain followed by a fast paced 8 mile hike back.
I’ve got a 13 mile long run this Saturday. Well, ok, I’ve got 13.1 because who runs just 13? The 910xt is my choice. I’ve wanted this since it came out!
12 mile bike on Saturday (part of a team doing a sprint tri), then a easy 50 mile bike on Sunday.
planning on doing a 60 minute pool time (still practicing my freestyle though) then pedal 30-35km, and run 5-8km (10km if my legs are still able to)
i’m still a long way from doing a sprint triathlon but hey, i’ve got to start somewhere somehow =)
bout to go for a swim!
For Friday, running 4 easy miles on the track followed by stretching and PT exercises.
Double stroller Yasso 800’s:
Pushing 2 kiddos in a running stroller, do 1/2 mile (or 800m, if on track) at 5k (without stroller) pace.
Jogging recovery for same amount of time as 1/2 mile took.
Repeat 4-8 times.
Get out for a 15 mile ride now that it’s finally above 30 degrees and I can see pavement in MN!
3hr hard running
Sat: 3hr long ride with big gear work at 85% FTP. In the last hour of the ride, the plan is to fit in as much FTP work as possible.
Sun: sprint race
40 mile ride with several 5 min intervals, followed by an easy 20 mile ride with a friend
Tonight: 90 minute steady run. Easy and straightforward.
Tomorrow: Up to 17 hours of Ironman New Zealand spectatoring, while executing a finely-tuned nutrition plan of coffee, croissants, steak pies, and beer.
Saturday I’ll be running my first marathon in Phoenix, Arizona. For the following days, I’ll be resting and hoping to win your giveaway. Thanks!
I, as a 3rd and 4th grade P.E. teacher am starting my jump rope unit tomorrow, and I teach 8 classes a day with each being 40 minutes long. During the first day, there is about 10 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes of practice time. I am also a firm believer in modeling behaviors. That said, my workout for the next 3 days will be as follows:
8 sets of AMRAP for 30 minutes…So, like the example Ray gave, I hope not to die!:)
On Saturday, I’ll be getting my bike out to see how it’s survived the winter, and riding to the hills to the south.
1:25 on the trainer including a set of 3 x 15′ at 260, 270 and 265 watts.
Monday I have yoga…I did yoga last night and can hardly walk. My yoga teacher is preggers and can’t do all of the moves, so I think she doesn’t realize how difficult her class is! 1 hour, 15 minutes of yoga to cleanse my soul and torture my body.
30 km tempo run on Friday morning, come rain hail or shine. Great to end a busy week of work with a solid hit out!
2.5 hour PM ride, straight to bed, wake up, straight on the bike for another 2.5 hour AM ride with a hard hour off the bike. I guess it’s triathlon season again.
Three weeks out from Melb IM – simple – ride 200km at race pace.
1h rollers at easy pace, followed by 3x10min running, 1min walking between sets
Have started racing Surf Ski, a major issue at present being both balance and overall speed.
Next workout will depend on weather as the ocean can dictate focus on either one of those issues.
If flat it will be a focus on boat speed with a 5km time trial at race HR of around 170 bpm followed by sprint intervals at max attainable boat speed for 50 strokes followed by 2 minutes rest, repeated 10 times.
If rough it will be a focus on balance, and a hour spent paddling with, against, across and other directions to the swell and waves.
30 km tempo run early on Friday morning. Great to end a busy work week with a solid session!
Bike ladder, 3 rounds of:
20 seconds on, 60 seconds off
20:50
20:40
20:30
20:20
20:10
Followed three hours later by a strength workout:
5×3 back squat
3×3 power clean
Then
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
3 dead lift
6 burpee
9 wall ball
5min row @threshold.
20 x squats with barbells combined with 20 x bent over row.
Repeat 4 times.
8 to 10km run on Tues to Friday, couple of laps in the pool on Wednesday and Friday afternoon, 16 to 21km on Saturday morning and a bike ride on Sunday morning then rest on Monday. :)
Bike
15:00 warm up ez spinning
10×1:00 fast (3:00 spin ez between each)
15:00 ez spin cool down
Optional spin class
2hr ride on Sunday up at 5am home by 7am hopefully 35-40 miles its supposed to be high 20s here. Then pancakes with the family
Run 16-18mi in preparation for 20mi commute runs home from work (Redmond to Seattle).
No pace requirements, no hill requirements, just run 16-18mi from my house around north Seattle mostly on the Burke-Gilman trail.
Bike ride to work (8 kms)
Ride to gym after work (6.5 kms)
Workout routine for neck injury recovery:
3 sets x 12 reps
Dumbbell squat up into bicep curl then shoulder press
Deadlifts
Fitball bent over row
Knee pushups
Seated row and/or lat pulldown
Chest press
Sit ups (3 sets of 30)
BOOOM!
After gym, 3 km ride home.
2.5 hour bike ride tomorrow.
3*20min Z3 intervals with regular RPM
1:1 work to rest ratio
Run around the neighbourhood block twice for 12k total
Heart rate run maintaining a steady 70 percent heart rate for five miles. Doing this over the course of time can greatly improve performance! Sit up pyramids afterwards for good measure.
Getting back from an injury (actually, still not fully recovered). So, my goal for the next week is going to be a nice relaxing run/walk interval of 2 miles.
Go out and explore a new trail route while doing a 16 mile run at marathon pace. Get lost and end up doing an 18 mile run at marathon pace and 2 miles at an “excuse me can you tell me where I am” pace.
Almost the start of the taper week for IM 70.3 San Juan – woo hoo!
Will be on the last of my long training rides, and since it’s cold and miserable here in the Northeast, it will likely be on my trainer. I could really use a new trainer… :)
1:30 foundation ride in the AM, 1,400y in the PM. Just started a new 70.3 training plan this week, so I don’t think there’s anything crazy
15 burpees, 10 pullups, 10 minute warm up jog
2×1 mile repeats (5k pace) w/ 4 minute recovery
45 minutes at half marathon pace
10 minute cooldown
Thanks for all the info Rainmaker! Your site is awesome!
Thurs eve run: 5 min warmup easy pace, 10 min at 10k pace, next 10 min at 5k pace, next 10 min ladder up to mile pace and back down to 5k pace, 5-10 min easy cooldown.
bike workout
15 minute warm up
1 minute 80 rpm
1 minute 85 rpm
1 minute 90 rpm
1 minute 95 rpm
1 minute 100 rpm
1 minute 105 rpm
1 minute 110 rpm
1 minute 115 rpm
1 minute 120 rpm
5 minute easy spin
8 x 5 minutes 105 % FTP – with 2.5 minutes rest interval between each
15 minute cool down
I’m way behind on my long runs, so I hope to do at least 25km on sunday, 28 if it feels good. Time goal will depend on the weather.
3 miles running on Saturday and 11 miles running on Sunday.
Coming back from injuries on my calf, the plan is to do some 45′ to 1h workouts on a pool (“hidro-therapy”), two times a week for a month or so, to strengthen the area before going back to more specific workouts.
3 miles on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday
I’m looking forward to getting out to Queenstown again for an 80-miler. I have to note, I found out about the place from you: link to dcrainmaker.com.
I am going to run a 10K race this Sunday and hopefully break my PR!
Every week for the rest of the year, I will workout for 10 hours. Just so my little boy can be proud of his dad who is not chubby any more
Next week:
Get up at 4AM
Drive to the airport
Fly to Phoenix
Work till 5:30PM
Check into a hotel
Change into my tri-shorts (zoots, love my zoots) and go to a nearby pool
300 yd warmup
4 x 100 @ 1:30 w/ 30 sec rest
drills –
100 – fist strokes
100 – finger drag
100 – catch up
4 x 100 @ 1:30 w/ 30 sec rest (2nd set)
200 cool down
Put on running shoes
Run at LT for 45 minutes
Get supplies for the week (h2o, food)
Get a salad for dinner
Back to room
Shower
Crash
I could do a longer swim and long run but the first day of travel is tough.
400 Swim
300 IM
200 Pull
100 Kick
—-
4 times through..
6 x 25 Kick all out
2 x 50 Back smooth
200 Strong (85%)
—-
Cool down…
400 Alternating 100 Pull / 100 Kick
100 Back
Still trying to sort out a few injuries. So I will be doing a few miles at a relaxed pace.
Boston Training – 37/58 [82mins] on March 7th
Blue Zone – 10mins
Green Zone – 15mins
Yellow Zone – 15mins
Blue Zone – 2mins
Green Zone – 15mins
Yellow Zone – 15mins
Blue Zone – 10mins
Zones explained [mins/mile]:
7:30 to 13:15 – Blue
6:00 to 7:30 – Green
5:08 to 6:00 – Yellow
3hr Tempo ride with hill efforts
Saturday is brick day: 90 minutes on the bike, followed by 30 minutes running
Saturday is brick day, 90 minutes on the bike, followed by 30 minutes running
Run 8 miles at race pace, sub 7 per/mi
I’m planning on doing Mount Scott in Oklahoma 10 times. Each climb is 1,000′ high and about 2.6 miles long.
Still recovering, so just cool walk still with my sticks enjoying my brand new ankle :)
My main goal this weekend is to put in a 5 hour effort on the bike in zone 2-3. Don’t really care how many km’s I do, just want to break that barrier. The following days might include a couple of short rides and a fair bit of rest.
Sunday – BIKE
Airport fields, 7:30AM
30 minutes easy ride on the single multiplication
1 hour intervals (5km 85% heart rate, 5km 75% heart rate)
5km recovery 70%
Stretching
A 2 hour ride on my “insideride” rolle I just bought which starts to make me enjoy riding indoor!
A 24k run at 4h50m/km from home to the beach where I’ll be met by my wife and two girls and we’ll have some pizza in a beach restaurant.
Greatings from Portugal!
I have a hamstring injury at the moment, so my training consists of visits to the physio.
survive 10 miles without puking or squating in the woods!!
Thanks for the giveaway Clever Training!
My workouts are usually fairly simple but today I had the hardest workout of the week. It’s 13x400m intervals.
First, I just want to say that this isn’t a typical interval workout for my team. We have a loose rock/dirt/mud interval course at the school, however, a construction company decided to start construction of lights, digging holes in the middle of the course. So we can’t run on the normal course, and running on the track puts too much stress on everyone’s legs. We have gotten letters from angry people in the development next to the school that they don’t like us running in “their” streets, and they have even called the police on us before (We didn’t get in any trouble). Our “go to” park has been turned into a bird watching area, and apparently running is too noisy. So with all this going on, we found a new park that is ok with us runing, as long as we change the course each time we run (so we don’t make tracks in the grass), and we stay off of the soccer fields. This means each day of intervals we drive to a park 20 minutes away, and take a meter wheel and a bunch of flags to make a course. In short: Step 1: Find somewhere to run.
Step 2: Warm up: This is a 12-15 minute warm up to stretch out the body, and to start getting fat to burn. This way, the body pulls from 2 different energy sources instead of just glycogen. This is usually at a pretty slow pace, but all depends on who’s leading the group.
Step 3: The routine bathroom stop, a drink of water, and a few minutes of stretching. After 2 of my teammates are ready (I run in a pack of 3 because we all have the same interval range), we step up to the line and get ready to start.
Step 4: The actual workout. The interval range is a 4 second goal range that is determined by a previous 8 mile run at race pace. My best 8 mile run was right around 6:00min/mile and that interval range works out to be 77-81 seconds per 400m interval. The first one is always easy, but they get a lot harder.
Step 5: The Rest. The rest is a light jog. The goal is to lower your heart rate down to 120 BPM or 12 beats per 6 seconds if counting using your fingers to feel your pulse and a watch to count seconds. Usually this will take around 3 minutes. If I’m feeling good, I may go a bit faster, and when I’m tired I try to stretch it out. Never longer than a 4 minute rest though.
Step 6: Repeat. These intervals are in groups of 4. After doing 4, then you go to a long rest, or a rest twice as long as your normal rest (around 6 minutes). For example: interval, rest, interval, rest, interval, rest, interval, long rest, interval…
Step 7: Finish. After doing 13 (for this week, the number increases by 1 each week for the next couple of weeks). You get to stop at the finish line, no need to run a rest. We walk back to the finish line and wait for everyone to finish.
Step 8: Cool down. The cool down is almost the same as the warm up. Maybe a little slower pace but still generally 12-15 minutes.
Step 9: Drills. These are usually pretty quick, and aren’t very structured. They consist of jumping jacks, jumps for height, straight leg shuffle, high knee skips, but kicks, quick feet, and cross overs. Sometimes we add in hurdle drills, but we haven’t had any out at the park.
Step 10: Ab work. These aren’t very structured either. Usually they last about 10 minutes and consist of a bunch of exercises which I do not know the specific names of.
Step 11: Milk and cookies. This is the best part of the entire work out. Coach brings a cooler with chocolate milk and chips ahoy cookies. These are great for recovery because they have protein and carbs. Because of the large number of people on the team we are usually limited to 1 cookie per person, but that one cookie tastes incredible after a long work out.
Step 12: Drive back to the school. Pretty self-explanatory.
Step 13: Ice bath: One of the best or worse parts of the workout depending on the outside temperature. We fill up the ice baths at the school and take turns. We stay in for 8 minutes, and usually have some great conversations while our legs are frozen.
Step 14: The real finish. This is the last step. It’s when everyone goes home to get some good rest for tomorrow.
Friday is then a recovery run day, and on Saturday, we go to the meet for this week. I’m running the 800m, and I’m sure that this workout helped me better prepare for my race. I want to run sub 2:05, and my current best is a 2:08.
Thanks again for this chance to win something. Even though the chances are very slim, I’m always glad to enter.
Sorry, I messed up the hyperlinks
Workout on Garmin Connect: Here
Workout video on FloTrack (Last Year): Here
Two hour steady trainer ride followed by 15 x 4:00 climbing intervals, then 10 minute easy spin down.
0:30 easy
2:00 TT pace
1:00 climbing
0:30 climbing out of saddle
Got a lovely 150km brick session with a 60 min run. Hopefully it’s not raining tomorrow
Trying to lose some weight before running season begins.
Planning to run two hours straight on the treadmill to burn some extra calories.
Going to do my indoor cycling
WU: 15 mins
5:00 pedal easy
5:00 alternate :30 standing :30 sitting
6:00 seated while using 80% of workload between 1:00 on right leg and 1:00 on left leg
Main set:
Set 1
6×2:00 try to maintain 70rpm in Z2 RI 1:00
Set 2
6×3:00 try to maintain 70rpm in Z2 RI 1:00
CD: 5 min
Hi Ray!!, this weekend I will take the streets with a 75% HRM, for a 45 or 60 minutes, I hope feel better of my right knee, because on last half marathon I was injuried, also I will run a 10k race for red cross of my country. I want to win the garmin forerunner 610, thanks for do this!! take care.
Lovely brick of 170km and 60 min run
Watch the Strade Bianche online, go back to bed get up and ride down to pony keg to pick up a 6 of Duvel then fix up some waffles with nutella and whipped creme then get ready for some nascrap from phoenix.It is the off season for us cross racers
Saturday: 13 mile long run on flat course with last 1/4 at Half Marathon pace. Through the cold and snow, with hopefully good footing and not much wind.
Sufferfest Blender. 1hr 40 mins of pure pain. Not out till tomorrow. Just bring it!
1hour run at a pace of 4:15 min/km
Saturday I plan to run 10 miles, with the first 7.5 being easy, and the goal for the last 2.5 to be race pace.
It’s the beginning of my running season! I’ve got an easy 5K first up, so I’ll start with an easy 3 miles just to get the kinks out of my system.
My first open water swimming workout!
Swim
W/u. 10 x 50 15r, 300 pull
MS (all at threshold -2 sec)
400s
4×100
300
3×100
200
2×100
100 cd
Swim
W/u. 10 x 50 15r, 300 pull
MS (all at threshold -2 sec)
400s
4×100
300
3×100
200
2×100
100 cd
Long ride with three repeats of two different.
First effort: SE @ 85%
Second effort: Build to final thirty second sprint.
Third Effort: 15 seconds on/15 second off.
3 mile run Saturday on the treadmill! (still too cold outside for me!!) Sunday no workout- Its a hockey weekend!!!!
I’m training for IM Cairns in June, bit of an easier weekend this week. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning I’m planning a bike-run brick (1hr45min/45min) at a moderate intensity. Focussing on getting my heart rate under control as quickly as possible in preparation for the longer bricks to come. No planned routes, just wherever I end up going.
Stairclimbing, 6 x 300 steps
Take a break from Trainer Road Int Base plan II
Do fastest century ride this Saturday
I have a hill repeat bike workout planned. Need to get out of base fitness phase so I’ll be attacking the various hills around my home for a few hours and do some intervals.
30km trail running with easy pace, because I have just recovered from the damage after 324km race in the middle of February.
45 min spinning session followed by 10K run and outdoor pool 2K swim.
Actually from your other post about starting up in Triathlon – mine’s about swimming using the 0-1mile. I have done the 600-300-4×100-4×50 today, planning to do it tomorrow and on Tuesday. Thursday’s the big 1000m.
Bike
10min Warmup
5x5min 120-130Watts 95 rpm
Rest 1 min between
2 progressions 80-200 in 20 watt increments
Spin 10 min 100-120
2x10min 150w 95+Rpm 5 min between
cool down
VO2-max workout:
8 x 1 km @ 5:18/mile pace, 1 minute jog breaks
+ another 10 miles for distance
(Credit to McMillan racing)
2.5 – 3 hour ride: include 3×12 minute efforts at half Ironman pace, low to mid zone 3 with 3 minutes easy
spin between each.
Get off bike and run 3 miles at steady state or 80% effort.
On sunday I will do a medium run of 10 to 12k, then some core exercises! And then have breakfast!
Created my own TrainerRoad ride that I try and do once every other week to mix things up. 50 minutes total. 4 intervals at 10 minutes each, 120, 125, 130 and 135% of my FTP. The first two go well. The 3rd is a fight and the 4th is just ugly. I’ll do that tomorrow (Friday) night then spend the weekend swimming.
Tomorrow is the heaviest day of my week, I have planned a pace run for 15 km and then to work from 8 to 5! hooray tomorrow its friday
Morning:
Warmup – 3/2 Mile
Workout: 8X1K @ 5K pace and 2X200M at mile pace, Stretch
Cooldown – 3/2 Mile
Evening: Stretch, 100 meter freestyle warmup,
Aqua-jogging 400 meters,
200 meters freestyle cooldown
Today’s workout on the bike:
10 Minutes PZ2 @ 95+ rpm
5 Minutes PZ3 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
2 Minutes PZ5 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
2 Minutes PZ5 @ 95+
3.5 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
1.5 Minutes PZ6 @ 100+ (Last 15 seconds empty the tank)
5 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
5 Minutes PZ4 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
1 Leggeds 50 seconds @ 60-80
1 Minutes PZ3 @ 95
2 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
5 Minutes PZ4 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
1 Leggeds 50 seconds @ 60-80
1 Minutes PZ3 @ 95
2 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
5 Minutes PZ4 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
1 Leggeds 50 seconds @ 60-80
1 Minutes PZ3 @ 95
2 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
5 Minutes PZ4 @ 95+
3 Minutes PZ1 @ 90
1 Leggeds 50 seconds @ 60-80
1 Minutes PZ3 @ 95
2 Minutes PZ1 @ 90