Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, 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.
Do a winter MTB ride of 50k between the holidays no matter the weather conditions after closing active cycling season for winter on the end of October.
Lunch Time 5 mile in the woods today
Grand Bara 15k, Djibouti Africa, 18 December 2014.
Run a Half under 1.30.
Strength training. 1 hour of free weights tonight.
I skipped yesterdays run because of a -29 windchill factor. So going out today at lunch time.
Brick session next Sunday: 6x 5min FTP intervals on trainer, afterwards 15km run.
MTB ride along the coast to warm-up and then up the hills in Punta Hidalgo, tenerife
Looking to break the 4 hour marathon mark in 2015.
One workout planned (and one I always look forward too!) is the christmas day tempo run:) Put some red on and go work up an appetite for christmas dinner!
If you let me stretch it out in to next year though (just!) The New Year’s day parkrun is always one to look forward to here in the UK:)
Bowen Rd. Run in Hong Kong
swim freestyle 3km (pool) every 3 days
The ‘Eindejaarscorrida’ in Leuven (Belgium) on December 28th, a fun 12 km race through the streets of this nice student city. That, and some training beforehand off course.
Going for a long distance run during Christmas… when I’am on a skiing trip in Austria!
Muddy Welly this coming Sunday – 10k proper cross country with mud
I have the standard 10 mile Monday Night ride tonight and again next week, and the one after that
doing the inaugural Ironman 70.3 in Chattanooga this May. Can’t wait!
A 14k run in the cold night.
I have signed up for the 10 Mile Mid-Winter Classic In Cape Elizabeth, Maine. 10 miles along the Maine coast in February Woot Woot!! Cheers – Gabe
I am getting ready to begin training for my first half Ironman in 2015 but will be having shoulder surgery late January, so to ensure I am up to form before the surgery I will be swimming the half Ironman swim distance for the first time on Christmas eve. Wish me luck.
The Jingle Jog 10k. A great event for a good cause. Also, training for the Hot Chocolate 15k with my wife.
Half Marathon at Kiawah Island Dec 13th
10 mile hilly run at 5AM in the dark in the Northeast US. I hope I have enough cold weather gear for this! :)
HIIT workout on Saturday – going to do the filthy fifty workout.
The weekend before Christmas I will run a 5k on Thursday,10k on Friday, half marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday. Training for the Dopey Challenge.
Menlo Park to Mt Hamilton century! A Christmas classic!
Whew – nothing super specific planned other than the standard running to maintain fitness and as much skiing as possible.
Just got my bike on the trainer for some winter HIIT workouts. Starting with pyramids tomorrow!
5K run in Middletown, MD
Trying to recover from this season’s efforts, so taking it easy between now and New Year. I’ll run easy 10Ks every other day and half an hour on my spinning bike the other days.
Easy run around Piedmont Park when I am down in Atlanta this weekend.
Building up a base as a beginning runner. 25 minute hill run tomorrow. Eagerly awaiting my 920xt from Clever Training (waiting on the blue/black base). Motivated by this site to do my first triathlon in the spring. Thanks for all the great, geeky reviews.
Weekend group run of about an hour.
Working off the Turkey by cycling to work between Christmas and New year
3000 swim on 10th Dec.
My next interval workout, tomorrow morning :
15min of warmup, then 2 10×30’/30′ ending by 15 minutes of recup !
Driving from Rochester, NY to Sarasota FL, for the holidays, will bring my bike along and plan to ride 7-8 days out of 10. Trying to get in around 200 miles.
Hour and a half long run on Boxing Day as part of marathon training!
after doing the annual santa jog in full kit yesterday, some winter training over the next week or so in preparation for the turkey trot on boxing day. a good 10 km to run that over indulgence off!
4 hours on a bike, in the cold, and the rain and wind. Ugh….
The details of one workout or race that you’ve got scheduled between now and the end of the year.
Just learned today that I will be attending the relay start at the Challenge Roth Triathlon (Germany) in 2015. I’ll take the cycling spot.
That means: Training efforts will slightly shift to indoor cycling on my Tacx.
In terms of motivation I’ve set an appointment for myself to use a GPS track of the Challenge Roth cycling track (~90km) and will give it a test ride on the 23rd of December right before the Christmas food massacre will start over the following three days.
Would love to have an Zwift beta invite for the traing :D
A relaxed 10k with my dad between Christmas and New Year to catch up on the last 4 month :)
15k run with 6k @ lactate threshold
Running into the new year, Dezember 31st, Graz, Austria.
Thanks!
Race: 10.3K in Hamburg on Dec 31st. Just a nice way to start new year’s eve!
Each Wednesday evening – long TBC session to improve overall condition.
Sufferfest Revolver, because it has an IF of 1.07. So you know it’s gonna hurt.
Just ordered a brand new power meter, will begin training with it, finding ftp and everything to improve my watt output this winter.
I’m looking forward for the holiday season to do some jogging exercises in the forest.
Short intervals on treadmill. 40s @100% – 15s rest x10
A 10k mid-winter night run in Ghent on the 21st of December.
I’m almost ready forThe 2015 Hangover Run 10k in the last day of the year.
planned a 12k run for lunch time – done and dusted….
10 Miles on Sat. For Jan. 1/2 marathon.
Session at NinjaKour playing on some ANW obstacles.
5 miles fartlek right after the kids open up their presents
I will run a marathon in Reggio Emilia, Italy, next Sunday. I hope to eat a lot of Parmesan Cheese….
I need to get on my mountain bike and work on doing tight turn arounds while on a trail.
31 Mile Tour de Lookout Mountain, TN
An 8 mile run in Johns Creek, GA before the end of the year!
Sufferfest: Revolver (with matching .erg file so I can’t fake it) tonight after work. It’s gonna hurt so good.
Swim for Life: The fundraising swim marathon for disabled people.
The event will take place on Dec, 20th between 10AM and 6PM in the lovely town of Lebbeke (Belgium) near Brussels.
Everybody can participate!
More info on the website
Part 1 of the “Greiftreppe”: 1k / 2k / 3k runs at HM pace (4:15 min/km) with 400 m / 800 m slow jog between the intervals.
December 8th, during and after sundown, 50 minutes fartlek up and down paths over the oceanside cliffs of the Bohuslän archepilago, seeing the sun go down into the ocean in the east at the same time as I light my headlamp and keep pushing up the hills.
Belle Isle New Years 5K
Just ran my last race of the year yesterday (a pancake flat 5K = FOUR minute PR!). Focus this week is week 3 of TrainerRoad’s Traditional Base II plan.
Recovering from shoulder surgery, so no swimming but will be out for a brisk walk and maybe even a little jog. Never too early to start the recovery and training for next season
Interval 12x400m/80sec each on 2 minutes break in easy running pace.
Got a 2700 yard swim scheduled for today wearing my Garmin Swim.
Running interval training next thursday:
10min warmup – 10x 400m (1:40 walking recup) – 10min cooldown
So it’s early next year but the Cape Elizabeth 10 Miler.
I don’t plan my training because it’s done by my swimming coach :-)
It’s a race against my alarm clock to get out of bed and run!
Nothing very special… I’ll be 70% in marathon training, so 30km in snow will be the highlight of my December workouts.
30 days into my “Return to Running” – 4 Mile interval Workout in the Woods of VT
15 run in
4 * 1200 meter race pace tempo with 1 recup round between block
15 run out
10km run next weekend – to show others that you can maintain the training momentum even in the miserable London December weather!
I am swimming twice a week (90 mins x2) and some cycling on the trainer to get in shape for my first Masters competition in a few weeks. Just hoping to be not so far behind the first time!
Lousy 5 mins runs in the weekends + some trainer hours here and there.
5k run on Saturday with Parkrun in Gladstone Park, London! Trying to beat my pb of 27:50!
Hoping to get the bike off the trainer and actually ride outside this weekend with no work conflicts for a change…
Just working on getting back to working out consistently after a broken rib from a crash at Ironman FL!
Today is raining in Zagreb, Croatia so it will be 10km on treadmill this afternoon.
Stockport 10 miler yesterday was my last competitive race of 2014. Dec 14th will be a steady half-marathon through Lyme Park (Pride & Prejudice location) and surrounding area :-)
Merry Christmas folks :-D
Looking forward to a leisurely 5K run around London later this month!
Race – GB Rowing Team trials, December 20th. 5km of pain in a single scull.
Bike trainer/core work today after 5k race + 6 easy miles yesterday. Hill repeats tomorrow though snow is predicted!
Thanks for all of your reviews.
Got a charity 1 mile run coming up on Dec 13. Have no clue how fast I can run a mile flat out. Should be interesting.
a fun spin class + an easy run in the mountains for my birthday today!
Looking forward to my last 100 miler of the year on Christmas day.
A 10K run later tonight in lovely Dutch autumn weather (i.e. cold and rain)
Eugene Marathon 2015! First spring marathon
Getting on a spin bike at my new gym for at least an hour since the winter weather has ended my commuting season.
Distal clavicle break means I’ll be doing couch olympics the rest of the year!
December, 28th. Final race of the year: 10k Spiridon Sivesterlauf
In training for my first TRI in March! An avid cyclist, right now my focus is swimming a couple times per week and building up my run endurance.
Running the Dallas Marathon on December 14 “at a happy pace” with my wife after we both scored huge PRs in Philadelphia two weeks ago!
A Century road bike race in April the day after the 10k Bridge run in Charleston, SC.
4 days in Cancun:
3 Ocean Swims :60min
3 Beach 2 hour runs
Yoga cross training on the beach
Training for the 2015 Maryland Ironman
Next Saturday we’ll have a 5,000 m open water swim, followed by the year-end beer-mile competition at the beach. I do have a half-marathon relay to run in the evening, but not sure how I will make it, though.