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.
Nice tempo run and then joined up with a friendly 5km race.
Saturday: 60.3 miles in 3:14 with the Saturday Ride Group. Sunday: 38.3 in 2:27 Solo endurance pace ride. Nice weekend for February.
Sigh, all I managed was some walking/hiking. Spent 3 days traveling to get back home.
A few rounds of 10mi Zwift runs trying to gt on the sprint leaderboards!
Last weekend was the final stages of the Tour of Sufferlandria! (link to thesufferfest.com) I’ve done this virtual event in the last couple of years, and it’s an awesome 9 day long bike-trainer event that is a fund raiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s research. Saturday and Sunday were double-length with two 1- hour long, hard workouts each day, . Saturday was “A Very Dark Place” + “9 Hammers” Almost two hours of speed work. Sunday was “Power Station”, a climbing workout, followed by the appropriately named “Violator” which involves a series of 64 sprints. Brutal!
A 2-hour ride with a 17° hill, and a 3-mile jog.
Saturday was a 2000y swim and 1.5 hours on trainer. Sunday was a free ride at 3h.
Training for Boston Marathon. 8 mile tempo run Saturday, 16 mile Long run Sunday. All on a treadmill because it’s too cold in the Northeast
I turned 40 years old last weekend so I did my own 40/40/40 indoor triathlon to celebrate! 40 mins each of swim, bike, and run.
A weekend of relaxation trumped training.
Short run on Saturday and a long run Sunday.
We arrived in Kona last week so this past weekend was all about as many reps as possible with me, my boogie board and some big waves.
Last two stages of Tour of Sufferlandria. Kicked my butt and this week doing only active recovery.
Let’s see, last week I ran on the treadmill and rode the stationary bike (too icy to go outside). I also did some PT exercises while watching TV.
Few lengths in the pool while the kids have their swimming lessons and running round the local reservoir with my daughter riding along on her bike
Spent the weekend on Zwift! Easy 30kms on Sat followed by 164km on Sunday, then another easy 20km Monday. Love Zwift! I’m on zPower though, so that $600 would go towards a smart trainer or more likely some type of single leg power meter option. :)
Last weeks workout consisted of swinging and going down slides with my daughter. Oh the joys of not doing long distance this year.
Last weekend I was anxious to do a circuit on the MTB. But it was wet & cold here in the UK so I opted for the indoor Zwift experience instead.
Well last weekend I thought I should stretch it a bit, so I rode 100kms. Went somewhere I hadn’t been for a while and made sure I went the way with the hills.
Sydney-Mooney Mooney.
My first run around the local park this year. Yeah!
Saturday 2 hour trainer ride 30 min run. Sunday 2 hours snow shoeing
Trail runs in the East Coast tundra. Too damn cold!
It was a long weekend for me, so I did two 10k runs despite the -28 and -26 Celsius temperatures (or -19 and -15 Fahrenheit) and followed it up with a 15k run on Monday once the weather warmed up to a balmy -14 Celsius.
Completed last two stages (8 and 9) of the “Tour of Sufferlandria 2016”, which is a virtual global, 9-day indoor cycling training “tour” where one follows a different (or back-to-back videos on weekend) “Sufferfest” interval training video(s). So, four videos during the weekend. In addition, did some lap swimming and upper body strength training. Fun times! Honour, Glory, Victory!
I taught one Spinning class after a short warm-up run in 30mins last Saturday. Sunday, I gave another Spinnning class and then had a 2hour long run session.
Run to parkrun. parkrun. Run home from parkrun.
I ran the Mercedes Marathon in Bham, AL. I had a great time!
Recovering from a 50k and it was -10° out so I stuck to the treadmill.
I finished up the Tour of Sufferlandia charity ride. Stages 8 & 9 both were double-header Sufferfest videos. Just now starting to feel like my legs aren’t jelly!
Spin Class Saturday Morning and then Biked with the family on Sunday Afternoon
Basically swim 03 times at week (1.2km) + 10k on treadmill and few miles bike indoor
Last weekend included my first 10+ mile run in about 6 months. Weather was awesome and it felt great to be back out there again! …Though I was quite sore the following day :)
Friday, I completed a 6 mile run with hill repeats, and Saturday, I did my 10 mile long run (starting my marathon training!). Both on the treadmill because it was too cold!
Last weekend I was confined to the indoors, since Boston stayed around 0F for the weekend, lower with the wind. Did a couple lifting workouts and a 5k treadmill run!
45 minute SST interval on the TT bike
Recovery running!
One and a half hours of riding the trainer (sometimes I hate Chicago). But at least Zwift makes it somewhat bearable…
Just ramping up my running workouts after a miserable January.
Bike 2.5 hrs on Zwift on Sat and swam 1.5 hrs on Sun
Did some bike/run this past weekend. Saturday, I warmed up with 30 minutes on the trainer. Then moved onto a 15 minute run. Back to the trainer for a structured 45 minutes before finishing with a 5k run. Sunday, I started the morning with an hour swim and then in the afternoon did some core exercises at the gym! Great use of the weekend.
I was freezing along with the rest of the northeast so I went indoors and took advantage of my retired military status and did run intervals on the indoor track on base.
treadmill intervals!
Saturday was 11km on the roads, nice and early before most people started thinking about driving on them; Sunday was a hilly 10km trail run in the local ranges trying out a pair of Altra Golden Spikes.
Treadmill Intervalls, 6.2 miles, 160 HR average, just makes me happy. Next up, Hiking Mode!!!
Fat tire race in the sun and snow!
Running in Central Park, 7 miles, 7:52 pace, 900 Calories later, time for some dcrainmaker awesomeness
I was hit by a car in September on a training ride, then had to have another surgery last Thursday. So unfortunately my training log for last “weekend” was nothing. But over Super Bowl weekend when I could ride, I got on Zwift saturday and sunday for just under 50 miles.
Spring has finally sprung, so went outside for the first time this year. Starting hill training last week with 2 up and down the canyons.
Saturday: 5 mile run in -2 degrees.
Sunday: 20 miles on the trainer.
Saturday was racing against teammates on computrainers and Sunday was recovery on the trainer
1:10 bike trainer ride with 3 X 8 minute climbs
Rest Day Saturday
Sunday – Brick
After way too much allergy free chocolate cake, I got in 2km run/walk in the morning on Saturday and a 30km’ish ride on Sunday before eating way too much roasted chicken. Still recovering from a half-marathon on the 7th.
I went south to Florida from Missouri to find some warm weather……as luck would have it Florida was experiencing cold temps that week…..I rode anyway…..awesome!!
Brick workout… on the trainer and treadmill because of the cold.
I did not have a workout planned but did run the Black Canyon 100k :)
Core workout in the morning, and a 60 mile afternoon ride.
I had a 15k race on Saturday, followed by a rest day on Sunday!
getting back into the swing of things. Week one of TR build…
Saturday:
2 hour trainer ride;
8 km run at 4:40min/km. I will add that this was outside and it was -30 degrees C.
Sunday:
22 km run; another cold day
Went cross-country skiing on saturday and spent sunday at the rock climbing gym
I had the Mt. Rainier National Park trail on my NordicTrack but I went horseback riding since it was so nice!
Saturday was a long xc ski. Sunday was a long mountain bike ride on the same trails…well bike/run with bike/fall over in powder. Insert more xc skiing.
Did one hour on the trainer and zwift
Plan was go to on a 50mile group ride…the pace was set at endurance/tempo…but people went harder than this……then I got dropped at 20miles…lol
Since that weekend was all about love. The training plan was to do some threshold repeats such as 4x1200m @threshold with 2min rest after each. The other thing that was on the plan was to do a long ride with a brick session after the ride.
$600! This would be absolutely perfect! What are the chances I would win?
Last weekend I did two short 4 mile runs on the treadmill. My foot didn’t go to sleep so I count it as a good run.
Strength circuits, yoga, and lots of foam rolling made up my weekend. Plus extra cardio and strength with unexpected snow shoveling on the holiday. Good times all around!
10K Nordic skiing, skating style
Long slow day of 12 miles on Saturday with a follow on 6 miles on Sunday. Snowy miles both days.
Going to play some soccer on Saturday (my version of cross training) and then a long run of 13-14 mile on Sunday.
Walking for multiple miles (or so it seemed) at Arlington National Cemetery picking up the wreaths laid back in December by Wreath’s Across America, and a two-hour Sufferfest Spin session. Thanks and a huge congrats to you and your wife on the announcement of your baby! :)
1.5hr run on Saturday and 2.5hr bike followed by a 30 min run ON Sunday!
Saturday I did 2 hours on the bike trainer with a group of 12 wonderful people follow by a 6k run. On Sunday, I was all set to run 29k but the weather was horrific so I switched to the treadmill and didn’t have the motivation to make it past 16k.
Thanks for the contests and the prizes!
Nothing overly complicated. Just a 10k trail run through the Australian bush in the summer heat.
It was a long weekend so all I did was veg =(
I did my first “long run” of the year. An unimpressive 10km – still too hot (30 degrees Celsius) and Humid (90%RH) to be going too far in the Australian Summer.
It’s tax season in the US – but I was still able to get out Sat/Sun for a 50/40 mile rides!
Strength and a struggle to get through first ride on the Bushido.
15 mile out and back on fat bike
Cheat weekend (and month). The sub-zero temperatures aren’t helping.
23k run in -30C weather. Cold temps really degrade battery life.
i’m on holiday in Thailand, so training is open water swim and easy run on the beach!
saturday i went for a 6k in the snow and Sunday 13k at -25 c! no interval
2:10 on the bike with 15 minute brick on Saturday and masters swim and run on Sunday! Phew
Stages 8 and 9 from the Tour of Sufferlandria!
Swimming light workout 2 hrs.
Hope to win!!!
Make it rain, Rainmaker !
Cheers,
Bob
One of the coldest weekends….Training for the NYC Half ran 10 miles on Sat and 4 miles on Sun. I survived ?!
Long run on Saturday, tempo run on Sunday.
A quick trail run before a race in two weeks.
2x Cross-country skiing, 2x running and 2x strenght training.
2 miles walked with the husband and the dog. Getting back into running!
It was cold and snowy so I did 3 x p90x workouts! Focusing on strength and speed right now. First race (sprint) is 90 days away, A-race (70.3) is 180 days away.
Long run on Saturday. Sunday was an hour race pace on the bike with some race pace run efforts off the bike.
1 hour swim, 1.5 hours run and 2 hours bike.
60 km on the bike dragging the two kids in a trailer on Saturday followed by a weights session on Sunday.
Saturday was a 6.5 mile run at 8’00” pace on the treadmill and Sunday followed that up with a 6 mile run on the same treadmill at the same pace. On one hand running where it wasn’t well below freezing was nice, but on the other hand it was treadmill running which is almost never fun (thank you playlists!).
One hour run heart rate zone 4. Swim 3000m long swim.
Mainly a short 14km trail race with Valentine’s Day theme, and an ultra marathon group run hoisted by a local runner (I ran 64k, out of the total 220k!) over the weekend
Last weekend was National Sprint Tri champs in Kinloch, NZ. Whilst I didn’t do the sprint, I did the Olympic Distance event on the Sunday morning. And the good news is I had one of my best races ever :-)