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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.
The aim is to swim 1 mile in the pool. Currently at 50 lengths – need to add another 15 to take it over a mile. Not sure how I feel about an odd number of lengths though!
Still trying to find time to get workouts in again as we have a one month old who’s schedule is pretty varied right now. It’s either an hour on the treadmill or a 5 mile run outdoors. I haven’t swam in 3 weeks, but it doesn’t look like my schedule will allow that right now.
Gotta lay off running on hard surfaces so Sunday’s workout is an easy swim warm-up of 500m then 2 x 8 x 1:30 hard effort pool running with 30 secs recovery between reps and 2 minutes between sets. Easy cool-down swim of 500m.
today is track session
warm up for 2km at an easy pace,
main is 6 to 8 intervals of 800 meters in 4 minutes. rest interval is 400 meters at 2 minutes max
cool down is 1km easy
Swim 1000yds in the morning.
Warm-up # 1 …………………….300 yds
5 x 100’s sw-15″ rest bet. …500 yds
200 swim down real easy ….200 yds
Total ……………………………..1000 yds
20 mile bike ride in the evening.
14 mile medium long run on Saturday.
2 hour swim tomorrow at 5 am
today is track session
warm up for 2km at an easy pace,
main is 6 to 8 intervals of 800 meters in 4 minutes. rest interval is 400 meters at 2 minutes max
cool down is 1km easy
Perform 3×12′ threshold intervals on bike, 5 minute rest between.
Getting ready for my first duathlon
I will try out a brick workout:
5km run at 5:00 pace then 30 km cycling as fast as i can
cycling:
30 min warm up with Pz3, 5 and 7 worked in.
2 sets of pyramids: 5 min Pz2, 5 min Pz3, 5 min Pz4, 5 min Pz3, 5 min Pz2
With 4 sets of 1 legged at 1 minute each.
Run a 10k in my new pair of Newton Gravity’s
Cycling workout
After warmup do 2min intervals with 3min recovery at 135% FT. When power drops below 120% then spin easy 10min and repeat the process but with 1min intervals (2min recovery). Cooldown then collapse on couch.
Run 5x1200m, and trying to run each rep at a pace of 3:25min/km (and try not to die while doing so), next Tuesday.
It’s more of an uphill race to be done on Sunday.
The length of the course is 3850 m with vertical ascent of 725 meters. Hope to beat my previous record.
10k training.
Hills/intervals mondays
Tempo Wednesdays
Long Run Saturdays
Training for a 50 mile race in May and the plan for Saturday is 5 hours on the trail.
Training on Saturday includes 1 hour of Pilates and then a 60 mile cycling loop through Santiago Canyon with several nice climbs, back down Jamboree to the Pacific Ocean, ride along the coast to Dana Point and back home to Aliso Viejo.
Have just recovered from a couple of days with flu, so aiming for a 5-10k run this weekend as a restart.
Last week February 21st
Speedwork
Total Dist: ~11 Km,
2Km WarmUp (~5’30” min/Km)
3x1600m (1mille) in 7:01 each with 800 jogs between
2Km CoolDown (~5’45” min/Km)
Streching 10min
Ten weeks before 28th April MADRID R’n’R MARATHON. Target 3h 30min
Just getting into running:
on treadmill:
5 min warmup
3 min jog
1.5 min walk
5 min jog
2.5 min walk
3 min jog
1.5 min walk
5 min jog
cool down.
This is after a 60 min spin class.
Complete 5Km parkrun in under 20 mins
Open water swim on Saturday followed by a 2 hr indoor cycling session and a 4-6 mile run afterwards. Sunday will be a nice 56 mile ride on the Ironman 70.3 Texas course in Galveston!
b2b 20miles weekend run
Trail running on a mountain nearby : 5km ( 500m positive altitude) in less than 3h
Pre-Season Brick …
Bike – Gym Bike (I have to trainer, so hummmm what would I want)
75 min total – 10 WU / 10 Ramp to 135+ bpm / 8x (2 min 100 RMP / 2 min 140 bpm min, 85 rpm min) / hold 140 bpm min, 85 rpm min for remainder / 5 min spin down
Run – Treadmill
3 miles, neg splits, 1% incline – GO!
Love this for getting my sweat on …
10K outdoor run
I started swimming during recovery from a knee injury. I still can’t run, but swimming is improving! My goal for the weekend swim is to swim 1km without taking breaks.
leaving to Viareggio!
My plans for the week are, Sat 1,5 hours run @ 5min/km. Sun 30km bike, Wed commuting to work running 8km and Sat or Sun some trail running (route not decided yet)
This morning my workout was a “mock” Tri at the Y.
– Swim a ¼ mile in the Pool.
– Make your way to the locker room to change (if needed/no running) :)
– Head to the spin room (hopefully no class is going on) and ride 10 miles.
– Refill water if needed, and make a “quick” walk to the nearest treadmill and run 3.1 miles.
My time last week was 1:04:26 (stopping the stopwatch during “transition”), this morning was 1:04:25. I guess I am consistent.
Trainer road workout Palisade. 90 minutes ,5X9 minutes intervais spent slightly above or below FTP via 1 minute under-segments followed by 2 minutes over segments. 6 minute recoveries between intervals
Interesting workouts planned…
My most interesting plan (to me) is to make another stab at a new personal best for a 3-mile run.
Most fun would probably be a 1-mile swim this week followed by a 3-4 mile run.
Strength Bike
Strength- big gear, low cadence, focus on strong and smooth pedaling
14 min ez
6x 2 min strength / 2 min steady / 2 min ez spin
10 min ez cd
Here is my long run for Sunday ;)
W-UP: 5′ Z1
SET: 75 min @5’10-5’15/km. Every 5′ includes 2′ @4’45/km
C-D: 5’Z1
Enjoy!
Long run
2k warm-up
10k easy (4:45-5:00/km)
10k MP (4:05-4:10/km)
8k easy homewards
Here is my long run for Sunday
W-UP: 5min Z1
SET: 75min @5’10-5’15/km at every 5min include 2min @4’45/km
C-D: 5min Z1
Enjoy!
Sunday: interval training in dunes/woods with running team. Tuesday: track-training, probably 1000m’s at race-pace. Thursday: relaxed short run (45 mins). 2 days rest and then, on the next sunday, a 10km race.
on Sunday, I have planned to swim 1000m + run 10km, first combo training
3 weeks since I was knocked off my bike and fractured some vertebra.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get on the stationary trainer on Sunday for a 10 minute easy ride.
Saturday I am going to run my own 1/2 marathon route in preparation for the Mini Heart 1/2 marathon in 17 days. I am recovering from a knee injury so this will be a good test as to whether or not I can achieve my 1:30 goal.
Bike lead for Seattle 15K Hot Chocolate run. Hopefully it goes better than the DC one!
I gonna do my favorite workout, which is 10×800 m at around 3:05 min with 500 m recovery inbetween.
Hoping to get a 2 hr ride in. First ride of the new season once all the snow melts.
Strength session!
Warm up spin for 5 minutes, then 2 sets with 10-15 reps of each exercise. A. leg press, B. seated row, C. Leg curl D. abdominal curl with twist, E. standing, bent-arm, lat pull down. Cool down spin for 5 minutes with a high cadence.
Cardio work on erg or rowing machine, resistance 5 or equivalent; 2 sets of 4 x 4’ @ 90-
100% 2K race intensity with 1’ recovery between pieces, 4’ between sets, 5-10’ cool down
Core circuit: 75”on 30” off: do 4 rotations of these exercises
1. Front plank on Swiss ball
2. Seated Russian twists with medicine ball on a bench or chair (can do this on a Swiss ball to
increase difficulty)
3. Crunches on Swiss ball
4. Kneeling on Swiss ball
I’ll be driving from DC to CA over the next week, leaving my DC tri roots just like ray. My one workout will be run as much as i can in some strange city after sitting in a truck all day.
I’ll be doing my first HIM this year, so I’ve been eyeing a 910…
This weekend I’m looking forward to a long run as part of half marathon training. 9 miles at about 9:00 min/mile pace.
After two years of training for a different type of endurance race (seeing how much chocolate I can consume on any – and every – day) I am back in the swing of things.. albeit slower…
So my training session is…
[1] 3k run to pool with backpack
[2] 3k swim (slow and steady) trying not to swallow too much hairspray from the elderly ladies swimming next to me (have you ever notice how hairspray in a swimming pool has the same deadly properties as that of Stephen King’s The Mist?!)
[3] 3k stagger back home with backpack
[4] Import and analyse the results in SportTracks muttering the words.. “Yep, I got slower with each lap”
My workout for this sunday is an endurance brick consisting of:
60 minute bike. Concentrating most of the ride in zones 3-4 and then a 10 minute build in zone 5. Transitioning to a 45 minute run in hr zones 3-5 w/ strong push to finish in zone 5. Would love to finally get a nice Garmin watch to train and race with.
After a loooooong break from all forms of exercise, I’ve now signed up for my first official 1/2 marathon in May. I’m planning a 6 mile run this weekend in preparation for that.
Crossfit Workout of the Day, for Friday 4:00pm:
4 Rounds of:
800m run
40 Air Squats
8 Burpee Jumping Pull Ups
Training for Olympic Distance triathlons in the summer.
Working on: smooth pedalling & technique on Cycle trainer. Requires trainer with variable resistance. FTP can be substituted for Threshold Pace on a magnetic trainer.
5 Minutes warm up building up to 80-90 rpm.
6 Minutes @ 95rpm holding 80% FTP
2 Minutes rest pedalling easy
6 Minutes @ 100rpm holding 80% FTP
2 Minutes rest pedalling easy
6 Minutes @ 105rpm holding 80% FTP
2 Minutes rest pedalling easy
6 Minutes @ 110rpm holding 80% FTP
2 Minutes rest pedalling easy
6 Minutes @ 115rpm holding 80% FTP
2 Minutes rest pedalling easy
5 Minutes Cooldown gradually slowing cadence.
Get to do a few sets of 1km at my I pace with 3 min recovery.
First week back to training after my first 50km race.
Run at a nice and easy pace for about two hours Saturday morning. No better way to start the weekend!
Part of pre for 15K race.Two weeks to go.Tomorrow calls for intervals
10′ easy
6 x 2′ with 3:47″/km
with easy jog for 3′ in between
than 10′ cool down
Just 10km easy run.
Recovering from an ‘unruly’ stomach. Will do an ladder workout soon:
1600 m recovery + 800 m recovery
800 m interval + 400 m recovery
400 m interval + 200 m recovery
200 m interval + 100 m recovery
400 m interval + 200 m recovery
800 m interval + 400 m recovery
1600 m interval + 800 m recovery
21km with two 20 % climbs !
Wish I could return running next week. But it will take a bit longer for me after shoulder surgery.
Mixed Bag:
30min maintenance run
3-5min at tempo pace
4x100m strides
5min jog cool down
On Sunday, my first combo training: 1000m swim + 10km run
Mon:
Squat 2 x 15
Superset: Lunge 2 x 15 & DB Row 2 x 15
Superset: Push-up 2 x 15 & Ball crunch 2 x 20
Sunday – 12 Mile Easy Run (Zone 2) around the lake with loyal Belgian Malinois in tow.
2 hour run on the AlterG Treadmill – as advised by my physio! (Also my first time on an AlterG! Hmmm…)
Triathlon team ride ~3hours (outdoors in TX :) –
Well in a few hours I am flying home (to Canada) from India where I have been for the last three weeks, of which I have only managed three workouts…my bad. So hopefully I’ll jet lag wont get in my way but I plan on an 8k for Monday, maybe Tuesday, and a day later an hour plus on the spin bike….
on Sunday, my first combo training: 1000m swimming and 10km running
I plan on getting in a nice long run this Sunday, 16-17 miles total. The first 90 minutes will be at an easy pace, then I will finish up the final 20-30 minutes at an uptempo pace. Should be nice and exhausting by the end.
Cycle 25km to local park, run one 5km loop and then same back in time for dinner.
2 Hour Trainer Ride
“Ramping” – 5 minutes @ 180w, 5 minutes @195w, 5 minutes @210w …repeat 8 times
Sunday morning i’ll like to go cycling for 100km, of course as hard as i can.
Looking forward to a good trail run this weekend with my wife who is getting back into running from hip surgery. Yeah, we’re 35 and having hip surgery already! The cause and effect of running, exercising, and playing soccer for 25 years!!!
tomorrow morning, 80km on my bike!
Just started running again from my surgery, and I was cleared to “run” my first 5k race, something I’ve not been able to do for 2 years! The plan for it is to take it easy, but to only have to take 3-1 minute walk breaks to make sure my form isn’t falling apart. Then afterwards, hopefully I’ll feel good enough to put some races on this year’s schedule!
1.5 hrs on the bike in the pain cave..trainer road style..
Sunday long bike 120 kms followed with an open water swim @ the beach…
6 miles this weekend! Training for my first “official” 1/2 marathon in May.
Long, slow, base mile ride. 50K at least!
Weather permitting, I am going to try for my first metric century of the year on the bike this Sunday. Been slowly building my long rides on the weekend and logging hours during the week on the trainer.
Swim:
300 warm-up
5×100 (easy/easy/easy/easy/hard)
5×100 (eeehh)
5×100 (eehhh)
5×100 (ehhhh)
5×100 (hhhhh)
200 cool down
Bike: 50 mile ride with 5500 feet of climbing to help prep for Tour de Tahoe.
26.2 workout- running the Little Rock Marathon on Sunday…both for a hopeful PR and as training for a 50K.
Warm-up
3x 15 second sprints followed by 5 minutes of rest
15 minutes of recover after 3 sprint sets
5x3min at power zone 5
15 minutes recover after 5×3 intervals
3x 15 second sprints with 5 minutes rest between
Cool-down
I can actually comment on two of my workouts in the coming week. I have been over training a bit lately and will be doing recovery work for the next week or two. This week I am planning three short 1-hr rides on my trainer (bought from Clever Training might I add – thanks CT for making it so easy to order) and maintaining a steady 140 watt output going up and down the gears on my big chain ring – simple and easy.
Run focused this weekend. Saturday I have a one hour run at 7:30 pace and Sunday is a 2 hour run at 7:30 pace. Going to be fun!!
Have been struggling with a knee (and a resulting foot) injury for over a month. It started after a marathon in January, got better in the middle, and came back during a marathon in February.
In the next seven days, I would love, love, LOVE to be able to run a couple of kilometres painlessly.
35km run. Last 10 km with increasing pace.
on sunday i am joining a mountain 10k race ,i am planning to go to some mountain races so i get the neccessary points for the Olympus Marathon ( running with the Gods at Zeus throne )
i just need a photograph up there on 3000 meters altitude . i hope to do it
planning on many mountain races for the olympus marathon
This Saturday I’ll be running up and down the trails on Massanutten Mountain for 40ish miles as part of my training for the MMT 100. I simply hope to average a decent pace, stay on course (not very likely!), not break anything or get hypothermia and be able to run the next day. That’s not asking too much, is it?
A long run for my standars for sunday 2KM
Run 15 miles on Saturday, with 10 half-mile hill repeats roughly in the middle.
Today’s run: 2 mile warmup, 6 miles @ half marathon pace, 3 mile cooldown.
Long slow run, fasted – aiming for 75-90 minutes across an undulating route; gentle pace, not worried about distance, first thing in the morning before breakfast….
Workout: Run my first-ever 10-mile race on Sunday (Reston 10 Miler) and (a) not die [this would deeply upset my wife, children, extended family, friends, etc. and a lot of friend and link requests on social media unflullfilled for eternity], (b) have some mobility afterwards so I can attend to the afternoon’s activities, (c) finish with a non-embarrasing finish time. And hopefully not look too weird wearing as a running watch an Edge 500 on a Garmin 1/4 turn mount affixed to a strip of elastic velcro band.
If I win, I promise to put the Edge back onto my bike where it belongs and serves steadfastly and acquire a proper device I will dedicate for running. Regardless, I intend to have a GREAT time.
follow up to #2188: Did not die. In fact it went much much better than well. 1:38:28. And I really need to get a watch designed for running – my friend had a Garmin 310xt, and a friend of theirs we ran with for some of the race is very happy with their 610.
Long slow run, might even have wifey biking alongside,,
2 km warm-up
10x400m
2 km cool-down
I intend to have a long run outside in the nearby park. It has been such a cold whether for months but lately it has been warmer. I can’t wait to fell the smell of spring in the park!
Tomorrow is final long run before marathon taper. 18 miles, second half at event pace.