Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) 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.
I did heavy lifting this weekend such as couches, tables, beds. I moved into my new house. Any cardio I did was running back and forth from home depot. Man I’m still sore
I did two swim workouts, threw in some soccer, and “balanced” it all out with lunch at the Mexican buffet.
The kids and wife watched me do a PB 5K at park run on the Saturday.
Valentine’s Day I stretched a lot after a strenuous week and had some alternative exercise, that’s just the way I roll ;)
Easy 5k run on sunday
Last weekend was actually a rest weekend, but I planned out my race schedule.
A nice and wet 25k Trailrun.
Not bad rides on the last weekend, 3 climbing in 2 rides for a total of 2400m, improving step by step my VAM after an injury!
I had a 6x1000m drill session at 10k speed. 14km overall
Hi Ray,
My weekend was like this…
Saturday was a beautiful 15km run around Herestrau Park in Bucharest (where I live).
Sunday was a PowerBeam Pro virtual ride around Red Rocks Amphitheatre. End result was a rise in my FTP. Still sucks but now marginally less so.
I had a nice 10 mile trail run on Sat. followed by a boring trainer ride with a run after…should have changed sox though as my toes lost feeling. My Valentine cleaned house and watched the kids because I overslept…I think I married well.
Saturday: stand up, sit down for six hours while timing Lane 2 at local masters meet. Sunday: 8 hours chasing down bandit runners at the LAmarathon finish line.
Running, running and more running!
6miles on Tuesday (3x2k plus wup/cd), 6 miles on Thursday (4 miles quick), 12miles Sunday feeling under the weather!!!
All for the VLM!!!
resting an injury, got 45 mins on the treadmill yesterday!
Switching which workout on which day as Sat looks to be beautiful in Mpls. Sunny and 40!
LSD run outside on Sat, and LSD ride on Sun on the trainer.
Nothing says I Love Me more than slogging through the mud.
Our eastern Canadian winter ruined the weekend, but it was up to 11ºC today so 30k road ride on my lunch break
50 km of cross country skiing, looking forward to spring though…
Couple of long hikes with the family while the weather was nice :).
Since I was on vacation in New Zealand, it was mountain biking in Queenstown. In shorts!
I did several Zwift rides, and a 5k treadmill run.
Training for my first half marathon, the Nashville Half at the end of April (just got into “serious” running in August), Saturday was 6 miles at an easy 9:30/mi pace, Sunday was a 3 mile recovery run.
On saturday went to the “Salon du triathlon de Montréal” and did an indoor tri challenge, the endless pool was pretty cool !!!!
On sunday a 45 minutes run outside
Cheeky run in the local park and decent cycle!
“Easy” 10km run lol
A long run on Saturday and two hours on the trainer on Sunday.
Saturday was short intervals in the pool, for an hour, with the tri club and Sunday was 2 hours of long intervals on the bike with a short brick session.
Ran a soggy 10Km on the hills of South Burnaby (Vancouver, BC suburb). Getting ready for the Seattle 15Km Hot Chocolate Run March 06th and the San Francisco Rock and Roll Half Marathon April 03rd.
Nothing! Broken collarbone… =(
I was traveling which limited my training, but I did manage to get an hour run on Saturday.
Still base work before the season starts for real. An hour of moderaten hilly trail running.
I bought my husband a Kickr Snap and associated gadgets for his birthday then told him about Zwift. He is addicted. This week was my week to give it a try. I finally got all set up and did 10 miles on zwift, nice and easy since I haven’t biked in years.
Usual long run on a sunday, about 20k.
2 x 8.5 km with babyjogger (with baby :))
A very cold 40k social bike ride followed by fish and chips and a pint of beer.
ran slow steady 12k on sunday
I ran 3 days with my dogs and bike 4 days (10hrs) on my trainer. Please I need a new garmin and I never win
A 10k trail run with my husband and dog on Valentine’s Day!
Swapped my tacx training tyre for some new gatorskins and hit the outdoors for the first time this year, very cold brrr.
Should’ve been doing 7×7 repeats, but instead got struck down by IBS. Guess we’ll try again this week :(
6 mile tempo run, 4 mile easy run
easy weekend.
Getting back to the pool for the first time since Dec 23rd; 8-min TR FTP test (ouch!)
I took my son and dog on an 8k stroller run on the snowy trails near our house.
No training as such, but an awesome 4.5 hour walk in the Scottish highlands
My hardest workout of the weekend was circuits of ikea furniture assembly for my daughter. Talk about mind numbing…
Short recovery run, then feet up!
3 day weekend : Sufferfest and Zwift each day with jam packed trainer riding!
Did nothing as I was ill.
Just get good walks in on Saturday and Sunday (Traveling). Quick 2 mile run on monday with .5 mile at 80% and core work.
An easy hour on the trainer with Zwift Watopia and some active cupcake making with the kids for Mom. :-)
Swim: 2500 yards
Bike: Aerobic Celing
Run: 5 miles
Swim: 3000 drills ect
Bike: intervals
Run: 9 miles
Swim: 2500 Yards
Bike: 50 Miles
Run: 15 minuets easy off bike
joined the local running group for à early morning run on zaterdag. And on sunday gone for à indoor tacx training. (Hate cold and raining weahter)
Gearing up for the Flying Pig in May, so last week was 6 runs, ranging from 4 to 16 miles at various tempos. Thanks for the giveaway!
Three days of weight training and three days of cardio via winter fat biking in the glorious South Dakota winter weather
I did some weight lifting in my own fitness room(just a bench and some weights) and ran 8k with 2 slightly faster 1k interval. Sorry for my other mail it is completely beside the goal:-)
Slowly recovering from fracturing my ankle, managed to run 6k on Saturday. Plus some light winter cycling. Gym on Sunday.
A good dose of indoor ride with spinning bike.
Vacation these two weeks….no training!
Getting physio just now for a leg problem so no running or cycling for me :(
I managed a 12K run on Saturday morning before the family woke up.
Ran the Surf City 1/2 marathon
Unfortunately – a lot of television happened last weekend. I did get a 4 mile run in though.
I did a 5km trail-run with unexpected sunshine and warmer temperatures around here.
On Saturday I had a 1,5hour swim at 6:30am, Sunday a zone 2 10k run after my kids birthday party. In the evenings some planks and abdominal workout.
I’m still on the comeback from injury so I had a couple of short, easy runs. Didn’t even bring my watch!
Ran a trail marathon with 900m ascent. My training peak for my first ultramarathon in 2 weeks time.
Long treadmill run Saturday while watching the US Olympic marathon trials, then a HIIT session on Sunday morning to ensure the legs were totally cooked.
Probably rather boring: Did some base miles and cadence training (I also try to work on pedaling technique in those) on Sunday, Saturday was rest day after Sweet Spot Training on Friday :)
Yes please
Long hilly bike on a spectacular California Saturday followed by a long rolling lakeside run exploring new trails on Sunday. Perfect weekend!
I did a block of 6 strength sessions with a few shorter runs to kick it off.
Saturday 50 mile group ride with my carbon wheels back on to get ready for a full century this weekend and Sunday was a advance mountain bike group ride. Cross training for this year’s road and mountain bike racing series.
5k Parkrun Saturday morning
Posh lunch Sunday and home in time to watch the Rugby on a rest day
I was sick on the last week, so I do nothing what I wanted or needed.
Friday 20 minutes of FitStar and a 4 mile run
Saturday 15 minutes of FitStar and a 4.2 mile run
Sunday 25 minutes of FitStar and 40 minutes of cardio on an elliptical machine.
Sat. Morning 90 min. on trainer Zone 1 HR, Saturday evening 45 min. recovery run on treadmill Zone 1 HR (5.32 miles). Sunday 12 mile Zone 2 run with 10x.25 mile Zone 3 effort and .75 mile zone 2 recovery sandwiched between 1 mile Zone 1 HR.
Getting the post-baby body back into racing shape!
10 mile training run (Lake Sammamish Half coming up in a few weeks).
1h easy bike on saturday and 2h z3 ride on sunday ;-). afterwards a relaxing evening at the pool ;-)
I did a short trail run to finish breaking in some new shoes and some strength training in the evening to close out the weekend.
On Saturday I did a 32k run (15k easy+12k >75%maxHR+5k easy) and on Sunday some core workout but no running.
On Saturday I did a quite muddy trailrun (14km, 1h50min, 450m asc), and on Sunday just a few Push-Ups and Pull-Ups.
Nothing major, just some short low pace runs to get prepped for a triple header weekend (3 half marathons in 24 hours) this coming weekend… Bring the Pain!
Just some gym work and mindless spinning on the bike trainer.
I did a group ride with my Loncar teammates and a short run on Saturday and a masters with a run on Sunday
Saturday: 25 minutes over-unders, a touch over the sweet spot
Sunday: 45 minutes of over-unders, in the sweet spot
Monday: commute in the snow and take the long way home
My right foot is KO, so for the moment it’s swimming pool and bike.
Not the top for my first 80 km in 3 month !
Long run on Saturday. Couple more weeks left for the half.
Just some indoor running and rowing. After that some crunches and some Blackroll Action :)
So it was a relative low intensity weekend!
Well it was -8 degrees with a -25 wind chill when I had time to run Sunday morning. So I hit the gym up and did 4 miles, then got suckered into a bootcamp class by one of the trainers immediately afterward. Pretty good workout!
I’ve been working on fitting 2 to 3 strength training workouts per week into my schedule in addition to my running about 40 miles per week. So this weekend involved a nice long run on Saturday in the lovely 15 degree weather we had over the weekend and a strength circuit indoors on Sunday.
Saturday Gym+Swimming(3000m) and Sunday 2 hours of MTB
Saturday Tag team indoor rowing 6K + core, Sunday -30oC without wind so heated up the wood stove instead of the planned alpine Ski.
Last week was dedicated to cardio training
10km run on Saturday, followed by Abs training at home. Sunday was my day off. :)
Saturday: 15 min Z2; 30 min Z3; 10 min low cadence drills; 5×1 intervals; 3×5 intervals
Sunday: 2 hours tempo
2 lap TFCS Richmond course race on zwift!
Last weekend was one of many down weeks for me, but my valentine would love a thing or two from Clever Training!
the past month really have been doing the 21 Day Fix with the wife. she is nursing neck surgery so this is being a rehab to get her moving again. slowband painful progresa but we do what we need to do to get better.
4x half mile intervals with extra long rests — just to get back at it in the off season.
Saturday got in a nice AZ hike. Sunday took a rest day. Monday did an OWS.