Jan 27th Heads Up! The just-announced Garmin Instinct 3 is on sale today for $50 off, down to $450. Barely 3 weeks old, and the 50mm AMOLED edition is seeing it’s first (very unusually early) sale by Uncle Amazon.
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!
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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.
Doing Grouse Grind (Vancouver, BC) three times on Saturday. Each trip is only 1.8 miles long but gains 2,800 ft in elevation.
60 minutes 2×20 threshold intervals bike ride. Looking for to be the lucky one!
will be doing the Ugly Christmas sweater 5K on Saturday 12/6
10k in Montreal with snow
My last 5K of the year on Dec 13- Pre Army/Navy game at Fort Leonardwood and my last chance to go for sub-30 this year!!
40-minute fartlek tomorrow.
Just started PT for a knee injury. Running is out for a little while but cycling is fine though so Monday is Day 1 of cycle-focused off season!
I am scheduled to run for two hours on December 6, 2014. I will probably not set a world record.
Lots of interval runs and tempo runs following Garmin Connect’s half marathon training plan on my new 920XT!
Scrooge Scramble 5K tomorrow morning!
no races for the remainder of this year but I am hoping to maintain my long run fitness from the marathon- i’d like to keep them at no less than 10 miles long!
3 hour aerobic intervals on my bike in the basement next Wednesday
I’ve been doing at least a mile a day run streak
Big 120mile to and along the ocean from Boston. With a cookie stop or three.
I’ll spend much time on my new Vortex Smart this month as I have a slipped disc and won’t be able to run for a while. Wouldn’t mind winning an higher end trainer as I’m still struggling to get the thing running properly with the Tacx desktop app ;-)
Cheers!
Race “l’origole” 82k+ , 2500mD+
South Paris.
Start Saturday 6Dec,10pm ! :)
After a very full triathlon racing season, I was panicking because I didn’t have any races scheduled. I finally found a half marathon that works with “life” for March 22, 2015. This is week #1 on the training calendar, so my workouts have been very light and very easy. Tomorrow’s long run is 45 minutes. Sweet!
Today 17km cross country skiing – skate. Tommorow at least 15km of running.
All of my official races are over for the year. Instead, I’m working on speedwork. I have a pool workout scheduled for tomorrow.
Racing the Zatopek 10km in Melbourne on the 13th of December. Going for sub 30!
A 1,5 hour run in Paris next Sunday. Hope to ride for the same time this weekend.
Regards.
“Naked” trail run on 21st December… Distance and route issued at the start, you estimate your finish time and run with no electronics… closest to their estimate wins. Multi terrain, so should be interesting…
Pre-riding the Old Caz Grasshopper route. ‘cross bikes for the win!
1 Hour trainer ride tomorrow 12/6/14
13km cycling back and forth between home and work each day next week
I will be swiming a lot for the USAT Triathlon Challenge!
Race for Wildlife Penzance Cornwall on Sunday. 7 mile multi-terrain run.
A nice run in Miami Beach
Reindeer Romp 4k race next Saturday. Hilly but fast race.
Bike to the mall, run to the stores, and swim through the crowds to get Christmas gifts.
20km tomorrow on local Toronto trails….before the snow comes and pushes us onto the roads until spring
Mistletoe 1/2 tomorrow. Now where did I put those green tights?
Lots of swimming and cross training to get back in shape for this next year.
Nothing specific just get as many runs and rides outside as possible.
18 km race on next Sunday, a little bit “hilly”, nice occasion at the end of the year
6, 8 & 10 mile runs for the next three weekends.
15 km long run next weekend 12/7/2014
A 5km nightrun trou the Woods to end this year
dash christmas town race 8 K and long runs 16 K
Early weeks of my marathon program. Have a 22km run tomorrow, then three runs a week until Feb! Tomorrow will be nice stay pace, I hope.
40 cold-weather miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway
Alpe d’Huez on the trainer.
This saturday a 30 km long slow distance through the plat plays/ vlakke land called flanders
Part of Albany Lakes Summer Series 10km runs
15K mountain bike ride
My next workout: first long (but not so long) road run after several months of almost only trail running.
Löplabbets Ribbemarathon, a marathon in Oslo on the 27th of December. Burn away the festive foods (ribbe=traditional christmas pork ribs), and all fees go to charity.
some cycling in lanzarote next week !
Rudolph 4 miler
10 mile trail run tomorrow. training for a 40 miler.
100×100 meters in a 25m pool. 25/12/2014
A nice 15+ Mile trail run at Antelope Island.
Deception Pass 25 km race on December 13th!
My PT test will be a few days before Christmas. It is something that I have to constantly train for :(
Spending the weekend working through TrainerRoad workouts on my new Kickr following your recommendations as always !
Thanks for a great job as always.
The citywide Santa Bike Ride on Sunday, December 7.
Pukefest trackwork
I’m guessing you don’t want to hear/read “I’m going to walk to the fridge to get more leftovers.” I’m looking to get out for a two-to-three-mile run over my lunch break next week.
For crew we have 25 hours of cardio to do over break- roughly 375 thousand meter. Gotta love college crew.
Easy recovery ride on the trainer
Short winter runs 3x per week
Spartan Sprint, SoCal!
First trainer ride in my out season – 60 min on Saturday.
Mussel Rock over/unders
Sprint triathlon.
Had to drop out of the St. Jude Marathon this year due to injury, but I’m going to run an easy-paced 5-8 miler on the 6th anyway so I can feel like I’ve done something at least. Here’s to 2015…
Dec 6th, 4.76 mile trail run.
A Half Marathon on the morning of New Years Eve.
9:30 on December, 31, we have the last run of the year – 2, 5, 10 or 21.1 km with champagne and cake afterward – just what you need before preparing for a long evening with friends and family.
Thinking about going for the Sufferfest Knighthood some time over the Christmas break :)
Working out with a new trainer (a live person) next week.
5x10min FTP with 5min breaks on my Trainer – presented by trainerroad :)
20th December, 15km run. Strzelce Opolskie, Poland.
9-mile run at marathon goal pace tomorrow, followed by a 19-mile slower run on Sunday (i.e., in accordance with week 10 of Hal Higdon’s int-2 plan).
10 Mile training run.
May also get a snowy run in on Christmas Vacation.
Sore achilles, so no races (ouch)! But, doing bike workouts 3 days/week on TrainerRoad.com and my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (Thanks to Ray for talking about this matchup). Each workout is the hardest I’ve ever done, and I’m just finishing week 3 of the 9-week program (Intermediate Build 1)
Park run every saturday
I’m doing a half marathon in Gloucester, MA this weekend with my girlfriend. The course goes along the ocean the whole way. Should be cold!!
See you there!
dallas marathon next subday
Mistletoe Madness 5K this coming Sunday. Hoping for a PR!
Getting into the prep stage of IM workouts. Namely, a ton of Z2 workouts, plus a pair of rest & test workouts
No more than 30 minutes running twice a week… Just keeping it ticking over while the stressie heals.
Core crunch group class and spinology!
Complete the festive 500 on strava!
Just finished a 10K tempo run and got back home, long run scheduled (hopefully > 25K) for this sunday.
Festive 500 with a training buddy!
4 SoulCycle spin classes before the New Year starts
No race, but trying to reach 2500Km by the end of this year. Current run odometer reading for 2014: 2395Km
I plan to swim1000m later today :)
One hour swim followed by a 5K…just a warm up for the next training session: one hour swim with an 80 min run including 4×1 mile repeats mid 7’s.
Continue to meet every Wednesday with the local YMCA triathlon group; great coaches and wide variety of workouts – much better than training alone!
The only major workout I have planned between now and the end of the year is giving birth :) Thanks for the chance to win!
4x 40-30-20 @ 400-450-500w
winter training: looong slooow duration (although not too long nor too slow if it is really cold ;))
Started cycling again this past July after a 16-year hiatus (I’m 37). Started with an FTP of 169. As of Oct I had reached 201. So, my workout goal by end of year is to achieve an FTP of about (beyond!?) 225. Your blog has been immensely helpful re recommendations on trainer (Kurt Kinetic w/ inRide) and using TrainerRoad and TrainingPeaks. Looking forward to a great New Year!!
We’ll go with tomorrow’s (6 Dec) workout – Bike test. The meat of it includes a 3 minute all out test, with some rest, then a 20 minute all out test. Should be fun!
Saturday ride: Stunt-Piuma-Rock Store-Encinal-Decker
Training for two this holiday season. My preggo works include walking on the treadmill, spinning to a movie, and swimming in my HUGE maternity suit.
10 cal rows + 10 Wall ball thrusters + 200m run
then repeatx4
Trying to get my run on, after chasing around 2 toddlers and working on a kitchen remodel. Need some gadget motivation!
Lots of time spent in the gym from now through the new year, strengthening up for a couple tri’s and centuries next summer! Plus I’ll keep my tradition alive of a run on Christmas Day.
I’m participating in a streak so at least a mile a day until New Year’s day. That doesn’t include all the indoor bike-run bricks I have planned! Thanks, I always love the hope your giveaways give me!
5km race next Sunday