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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.
Layer up and make sure to not keep wet clothes around. Sometimes move in to the gym for running.
started end of season recovery Monday and will be inline skating for a bit before building back my running and trail base from early December on.
Still run a bit but change mostly to winter sports.
Cycle to work in the horrible British weather to keep fitness up, lots of weight training in the gym, pool swims twice a week and few 10k/half marathons and duathlons over the winter months. Although British summer is not much different!
I look at my forecast app more frequently. Otherwise if it’s not a hurricane outside, I love to be out there.
You can always dress up for the cold, however in the summer you cannot dress down for the heat. So there’s an upside to that.
Layers, Yaktrax and travel to warmer locales
Since I live in São Paulo, Brazil, and it doesn’t get any colder than 10 degrees Celsius over here, I just have to wear a light jacket and leg/arm warmers if riding in the morning or evening. It doesn’t even rain that much!
I’m one of those lucky ducks living in CA so don’t have to change too much – although I use the winter to pull back on pace a bit and work on the fundamentals.
Hibernation, mostly…
when that fails, I up the swimming, and drag out the turbo trainer for the bike
Very fancy !
stay in BED!
Bringing it indoors this year after a terribly cold Northeast winter last year.
I move from mountain biking to snowboarding, and of course marathon wine tasting/reviews http://www.canadianwineguy.com
Living in South Island of NZ, usually drop the bike volume, get out on the trails for running, and increase swimming.
Hi,
I only change my workouts until the temperature drops below 35 degrees.
I do mostly indoor rides.
Thanks .
Living at ~10k feet in Colorado training doesn’t change, just the gear I wear. Time to get the running tights, cleats, hat and gloves out of the closet!
Here in the southeast of the US, we don’t see much snow. So, just more layers, and more indoor trainer rides and pool swimming.
I just move everything indoors, not too much of a change.
Winter = lots of trainer riding to escape the PNW rain!
Besides training less, I try find some other things to try like skiing and working on flexibility which I tend to completely ignore during race season.
Well.. I’ll be running in the NYC Cold but I’ll spend more time on strength and Skiing…!!
I’m putting long sleeves and a jacket. When it is freezing i sometimes add a pair of gloves. But I don’t ever, ever, stop running!! :) Sometimes I have to cancel my outdoor bike training (when it is snowing) or to delay it (when there is too much ice/fog on the roads in the morning, as i don’t have the adequate tires)
I’m a runner and will continue to run. Gets a bit cold and wet here in Sweden but with the right cloths and shoes it’s rarely a problem. Will try to do some more cross-training over winter to mix it up, some cross country skiing and spinning classes.
We have cold and snowy winters here in Romania so no outdoor cycling but more running in the snow, indoor spinning classes, weights and occasionally a few laps of swimming.
Headlamp and Bike Light!
(no bad weather in So Cal, only darkness!)
Like to start my training when it gets colder outside. Not so much overheating :)
Hometrainer, beacuse it is effective as hell and then mainly running outdoors and a little MTB
I’ll be running outside as long as its not too windy or cold, or too dark outside….shorter days suck. Otherwise its off to the gym I go.
I still run outside, just wear more clothes!
My training is sports, specifically soccer. I play 2 times per week at indoor facilities in the greater Toronto area, and then when the weather gets nice, take it outdoors. My walks are what suffer as its cold here in the winter and with two young children, don’t want to be away from them the few evenings I have.
bike trainer downstairs and running in the snow
As I mainly run & swim (indoor pool) – just add an extra layer for runs if it’s real cold. Also hit the gym & do strength & HIIT training that I just don’t seem to find time for in the summer ; can’t get on with treadmills !
Unfortunately not in a Summery Country so i have to hit the Gym to stay in form. If i get to it i will even buy the new tacx neo and do some training on zwift.
I am 100% triathlete…I train in the garage with my treadmill, trainer, and iPad. I’m from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and it can get pretty cold in the garage, sometimes the iPad shuts down from the cold.
While I mostly ride my bike during the summer and maybe run once a week it will be evened out during the winter, depending on the exact conditions. Definitely less hours, though not necessarily less intensity.
treadmill, trainer and more clothes
I’m in Chicago – Open water swimming switches to pool swimming (because the lake is frozen!) and biking moves indoors (spin or bike trainer). Run stays outside but I bundle up a bit warmer.
I spend the northern hemisphere winter in the southern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere winter in the north.
More running and less cycling.
Actually the weather and seasons determine what I will do. On the rainy days I rest, on the colder ones I run and so on.
In the second half of the winter (Feb,Mar) I usually do cross-country skiing, skiing in the ski resorts and some running. Then, when it gets warmer, I star cycling again. I stop cross-country skiing when there is no snow left in the valleys and ski resorts close down. Since there is still snow in the mountains, I start with ski touring.
April is the busiest: running, cycling, ski-touring, Easter, …
From June to September I only do cycling and some occasional hikes in the mountains.
After September I start running again, but more or less I become lazier and lazier until the New Year (New Year’s resolutions :D).
Switching solely to indoor trainer. Good, silent trainer with reliable resistance is the key.
Turbo training only.
I try to do the core training I neglect while riding in the summer. But that’s much duller than being outside.
Same runs, more clothes!
I’ll do some yoga training when the weather is not good.
Running: same schedule as always, although with more clothes and when snowy on trail running shoes
Cycling: switching my road bike for a ATB bike to cycle in the woods and through mud and once in a while a indoor ride on a stationary trainer
Ow and when it’s a genuine winter, I will be ice skating most of the time! (Yes, I am Dutch :-) )
I take a break from hard training and focus on my running. 3-4 days a week.
No change in my training scheme for the winter. I just need to get used to running in the dark…
We do tend to switch from morning runs to evening runs and add more layers as necessary.
I still run outside most of the time, just wear warmer clothes. Also those handwarmer thingys are great! If I get desperate or it’s really crappy out, I do Insanity videos in my basement.
With El Nino looming in the forecast for California I plan to add rowing to the training since we will need to travel by boat here soon enough.
A lot less cycling and a lot more running
Extra layers
More Wights, Indoor Pool swimming, and Bike Trainer sessions
In winter I ride my MTB and go running in my YakTrax.
Cyclocrossing my way through the mud
Almost no change. Only change is the kind of clothes I use. Since I only do running and cylcling everything is possible,
CU
Sven
I turn to the Indoor trainer/spin bike and Sufferfest videos. It is a love/hate relationship…
I train on the trainer
I’ll move indoors on the turbo trainer and do base training and intervals….
More strength and yoga than usual, plus winter in the south ain’t that bad
I live in South Florida so no real winter here; besides, I will be spending my Winter Training for my first Ironman Distance that will take place in Naples, FL, January 9th
I’m a Scot in Australia, so I break out my heavy ‘Winter’ bike with mudguards just like I did back home. The hardest part of Aussie Winter is that you leave to start your ride at 6am and it’s freezing but by the time you finish 3 or so hours later, the sun is up and temperature risen 10+C so your clothing strategy has to be spot on!
Trainer Road and snowshoes.
Got on the trainer yesterday
winter is easy in Nice, so i ll just add a layer and lets’go :)
I’ll do cycling indooor or running on the treadmill…….
Hibernation. And Ice cream. Off season through the new year and then grabbing the reflective gear and lights.
During the winter (hmm… winter is coming) I am hitting the gym more.
Nordic skiing!
I will change the exercise time from morning to afternoon, since here in Saudi it’s freezing in the morning but nice and cool in the afternoon during winter.
By hitting the gym more often
Dark out? Use a headlamp! But really don’t have to optimize for winter much here in California. Having training partners is always good for motivation.
In Houston it might hit 40F, it that considered Winter? Either way i’ll still be outside.
I basically give up speed work unless I’m able to crash the indoor track – can’t stand running on treadmills.
I still run outside, just wear more clothes and ride some hours inside..
Live in New Orleans, only gets really cold here for a day or two at a time. No major changes, just a little more running and less cycling.
The treadmill and I become good friends.
Im in Houston – not so cold – but rainy cold weather leads to more indoor training
During winter, after work, 0.5 to 1.5h of indoor cycling, and after that, a little bit exercises and run from 5 to 12 km :) Weekends i’m doing a lot more, due to off work days, so there’s from 1.5h up of indoor cycling and on evening run as far as can :)
Gym, pool, sauna – that’s it for me this winter, as unfortunately injury has ruled out running altogether :(
More clothing in North Dakota, more time in the gym but this year with yaks trax I plan on being outdoors more. Even a cold day is better than the brain numbing tread mill.
More clothes. And bonus–since its not oppressively hot and humid by 7:00am–I can wait to run until a decent hour in the morning!
What I will do this winter:
Running indoors (threadmill training) when it rains, yet will try to run outside as much as possible when the weather allows me.
Cycling: I consider buying a MTB for training during winter months rather than using my road bike.
I’m in Phoenix AZ so winter training is the best time of the year! A bit less open water swimming during the early hours but otherwise I actually train more, during lunch and evenings. If I am visiting a cooler state I just bring some warmer clothes and the trail shoes for running, that covers me unless it’s horrible weather. I’ll run and mountain bike in just about any weather.
let’s see how lucky i am
Mostly the same unless there’s a cold rain.
I’ve been doing CrossFit for the last 20 months, and consistently running for the past 4 years (my first Half last October, and my first Marathon 3 weeks ago).
This winter, I don’t want to lose my conditioning, so my friend and I made a pact to do 2 maintenance runs together during the week (she came off her first Half as well, so she wants to keep ‘the edge’ too). One of these will be a weekday morning, and the other on the weekend. I have my run/CrossFit schedule planned out to consistently work out 6+ days a week. We live in PA, so we’ll just bundle up with some pants and LS tops – this worked for me last winter.
A really good head torch and lots of pairs of trainers (some are always drying out) helps me get through winter.
Pull on a jacket! Not too much changes here in CA
Trainer Road FTW!
I bring most of my training indoors. This is my first season really pushing to train hard inside, but so far the riding on the trainer has been bearable. Maybe going to try and do the zwift trainer as well.
I try to run outside as much as possible.
I hate winter for training…
I will try to train outdoors as much as possible, but biking and swimming will move indoors.
Well this year I was planning on loading my Giant Revolt onto a Tacx Vortex Smart for most of the winter – mainly due to your positive reviews of the mid-priced Turbo Trainer but my plans were kind of cut short: As I was lifting the back wheel of the bike to fit it into the Tacx quick release bolts I twisted my back and have deviated a disk (also called a bulging disc) in my back which has kept me off the back since it happened! So – thus far winter training has been pain killers and lots of hot showers and physiotherapy; hopefully the bike / Tacx combo will be back soon.
Hmm, I’ll change Ice Spikers on the MTB, and just increase the number of layers while cycling or running. Cycling through snow and ice is a bit different than on summer-time road, but it still resembles cycling =).
Unfortunately the usual adaption is training less, hopefully that’ll all change this year
I bike more in the summer and run more in the winter
No need to change anything here in Adelaide, awesome training all year round, just a little colder so throw the warmers on and you’re set
Layer up for runs, indoor trainer for bike, pool swims and muddy legs playing lacrosse.
Still try to make it for ParkRun
Just layer up and hit the road. Don’t have to deal with much snow in TN.