Heads up! The Garmin Enduro 3 is down to $829, some $70 off. That’s the lowest price to date on this new device. The Enduro 3 is notable though because it’s basically a Fenix 8 Solar minus the dive/voice features (and the Fenix 8 Solar/MIP starts at $1,099). Everything else is there, and it gets all Fenix 8 software features (and, insane battery life). Meanwhile, the Fenix 7 down to $429! Or Epix at $429. There’s a bunch more sports tech deals listed here too!
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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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.
Get back into trail running with 5+ miles at Tom Brown Park (nice curvy, hilly trails here in Tallahassee).
Heya,
My last race this year is the Rotorua half ironman, Dec 13th. Plan is try and have a good swim, smash the hilly bike course. Smile at the grim reaper on my way up the biggest Hill on course (sadistic race director huh?) and hopefully have enough left for the run to go under 5:30. A Garmin 920xt would be a great inspiration for training in the new year :)
Cheers Ray, really enjoy reading your reviews. have a great Xmas and new years:)
Tomorrow (6/12) I will go for a 23 km trail run, between Hälleforsnäs and Flen here in Sweden, together with Eskilstuna Trailklubb :-)
Keeping on walking to finish my 1200 kms 2014 target :)
21k for tomorrow, we’ll see how it will feel like…
First test ride as a prospective beginner racer tomorrow if it doesn’t rain.
A relatively slow 16k in preparation for a half marathon somewhere in Essex. Need to remember to dress warmly!
The rest of my year is maintenance runs. I bruised a rib on a rearview mirror on a run Nov 2, and all I can do is shuffle in the cold!
12k’s of Christmas next weekend.
The running plan for december is to run every day. The distance my be higher than 2k.
In addition I will do a halvmaraton each weekend.
Thanks for a great site
Christmas and running wish from Denmark
Tomorrow a 9 km race run in my home town :)
Rib Intervals – short ~2 minute climb up 8-10% grade. Count the number you finish then head down to the BBQ joint at the bottom and eat as many ribs as intervals completed! BEST WORKOUT EVER!!
My only workouts planned for the rest of the year are hill repeats, carrying some sleds for the kids. Although this could change if I win.
New Years Eve run to kick off the new year and, in typical procrastinator fashion, complete the 9+1 requirement for guaranteed entry to next years NYC marathon.
I am going to run from my home to my parents home which is 22 km. I would love to register that with a garmin forerunner 920xt
4k race a week from Saturday. Hoping to show a little bit of speed!
just trying to stay fit for a couple of cool months. ride as much as i can!
IT Band rolling and ice :-/
1 hour interval ride on the trainer in the paincave. Thx to trainerroad for the Company :-)
A 50 km bike ride on Sunday!
Will run a half marathon this sunday, looking forward to it.
Salvation army Santa Claus Shuffle
Details are 5k run, 12 mile bike ride and 150m swim in Hemet, California.
3k swim monday
Hill repeats on the only hill around – The bridge!
The next race I am running is the Nos Galan Road Race, it takes place on New Years Eve and is a 5k. The Nos Galan Races commemorate the Welsh runner Guto Nyth Bran. It may not be a huge distance and I may not have been running as long as some of the others entering for this great opportunity but I am non the less proud to run in a race in commemoration of such a great athlete and kick start my 2015 in style.
6 mile tempo run with a group of guys to help keep the pace up.
Our running group’s 3rd Annual Ugly Sweater run where we run around our small town in our ugly sweaters. We give donations to local food pantry and end the morning with bloody mary’s and breakfast!
A 4×4-interval on the turbo trainer!
a 1hr sunday morning trailrun easy pace 11-12kilometers. trying to get as much running workouts in one week to build up towards the trans alpine run next summer
Today I did my first run, after four months of rehab training. Happiness is huge and endorphins is flowing :)
w/u and c/d as you feel. Include when you’re ready:
10×30″ strong effort hill reps. walk/jog back down recovering as needed.
XII Santa Claus Half Marathon in Toruń, running just for fun in Santa’s costume :)
Christmas day pre-lunch hungover run!
First ever tri – Mission Bay, Auckland, New Zealand on the 21st. Boom!
Underwear group ride for kids , December 14th 2014
My first ultra – a 50k within a 24 hour race – at the end of December in Arizona!
Santa Shuffle 5K with the family this Saturday.
Just did my last race of the year, the Pensacola Beach Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Planning workouts every couple days, tomorrow is 4mi run before an early meeting. Got my YakTracks ready for Michigan weather!
Next year I am planning to run the Trans Alpine Run with my friend so we are going to register us tomorrow. Although we need to train long distances, december (and also november) is about interval to make me faster. From january I will slowly increase my kilometers, but still doing interval training.
Carlsbad Marathon in Jan. 45 minutes faster than last year!
Relay Marathon (my part twice 7 km) link to sites.google.com. Goal 4’15” /km
Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL on Dec 13. They are debuting an exciting new course this year. Should be a good one.
This Sunday: 100×100 swim (10k!)
Will do the The Rookie from Sufferfest on Sunday.
95 min long run, with strength after.
5k Run with Santa this Sunday.
Celtic Solstice 5 miler next weekend!
Bike ride up round mountain to prep for the Rumble in early January.
loving my Mona Fartleks at the moment so will hit that again tomorrow.
i’ll be happy with anything over 4.5 kms
10k rollerskiing this Saturday, waiting for the snow… and my prize!
The Sydney Mud Run with my two sons in about 4 1/2 hours :-)
A 2h mountain bike ride in the snow this weekend.
Next race is tomorrow – the Escalade run in the old town of Geneva, 7.5km with great ambiance!
REDFAM (Run Every Day For A Month) to get a build my base.
12 mile time trial (using Powerbeam Pro and one of my own courses on Virtual Training software) to set bike FTP and power training zones for Prep phase after knee injury recovery. Just about 9 months out from Lake Stevens 70.3.
Well there’s the bi-weekly ACL rehab class, or the daily exercise sheet, or the couple of times a week I can get to the pool and swim pull-buoy sets for forever to choose from…. But my most anticipated work out is definitely the very flat very slow one mile bike ride I’m planning for this weekend – first time out in the wild on the ‘Mark II’ knee! Huzzah!
Just a few miles in the Houston flat land, followed up by a nice jaunt through the airport to Denver for a few snow activities.
Chasing a Christmas Pudding at the Nether Heyford 8km Santa Run this Sunday the 7th of December. Ho ho ho!!
The last sports activity this year will be “de Oliebollenloop” a 10 KM run in the Netherlands on the 31st of december.
I’ll be running California International Marathon this Sunday in Sacramento, CA!
3.5 hr ride tomorrow… hopefully on dry roads.
I have a work out scheduled for next week that is part of the Strava challenge 10K. It will be the longest I have ran this year.
8 mile trail run at Indiana Dunes every weekend of the winter. Running through Dunes, snow and mud when applicable. Getting ready for a trail 10k, and later a half marathon through trails.
100km tomorrow
I’m running my first full marathon in January. The Mumbai marathon
5 km trail run on Dec 6
Coming back from an injury but hoping to knock out a 37km training run from the Rotorua Redwoods to Lake Okataina.
40k Z3 Computrainer Ride Tomorrow morning.
Extra weekend swim sessions so my tri coach can investigate why I “wiggle like a worm…” Guess it’s better than “slithering like a snake…”!
Back to sunday masters swims. Group training is the best when it’s dark and cold outside.
Jeff
Last CX race for the season. Wisconsin State Championship this Saturday…..mud & snow
ski touring on Christmas day
40 mile ride in the hills of Orange County.
mtb 35 km on December 7 and December 14
Dirty Bird 50 mile bike race.
A 10 km tempo off road with some hills
Evening 5k race tonight!
I’m going to walk to the fridge, make a sandwich, turn around, turn off the kitchen light, then proceed to the nearest tv as fast as possible. Looking to PR this particular course.
8 mile progressive run with a 10 second per mile drop each mile.
90 min vo2 max trainerRoad session!
Resolution Run – but happens on Dec 31st….and it will be freezing cold! ;-)
Staying in down town LA for the next two weeks …so I’ll have a good warmup lap around downtown, then up and down the hill a few times. For a flatlander, thats a big hill …
5 Mile Christmas Pudding Dash in Battle, Eastbourne, on the south coast of England on 20th December – yay!
And Christmas Day Park Run in Haywards Heath, near Brighton – double yay!!
Fingers crossed & thanks Ray:-)
Trainer ride tomorrow evening, on the porch, in naar zero Celsius conditions :-)
Alpine skiing counts as plyo, totally. Much of that.
lots and lots of trail running!
Playing hockey on the pond tomorrow followed by time on the trainer.
I’ll do cross-country skiing in Kandersteg, as soon as there is enough snow …
Been slacking so a steady 10 miles this Sunday to get back into things!
2h trail run tomorrow in the Jura mountains (France)
First swim session post injury coming up next week!
Gail’s Trail Run. 6 miles of cross country in beautiful Redding CT.
Trying to keep to 3x40min sessions a week on my Bkool.
Hi
3×15′ sweet-spot with 7′ RI indoors
greetings from Vienna
Herbert
Honolulu marathon
10 laps at Longchamp this week end
Running Santa Clause 10k Race this Sunday, Dec 7, in Warsaw, Poland.
Expected weather -1-0C and freezing rain or, hopefully, snow.
1 hour recovery run
Saturday December 6th. Santa hat run, Bedford, Indiana. There is a Christmas parade and a local regroup of runners runs the route before it starts.
A 5k race on St. Stephens Day will hopefully build up some sharpness for a few more races in the New Year.