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 tempo’d a local couples 5k race with my girlfriend and did 10 x (30 s on, 30 s off) afterward with a nice cool down. Ran 17:38 for the win and we won the couples division as well! My girl really got after it out there. #proud
8k in sunday
Just upgraded from a Fitbit Charge HR to the Garmin Fenix 3 HR. Definitely a “big boy” tracker! I’ve since started dieting/actively working out a bit over a year ago. Lost 65lbs in 5 months. Mostly doing indoor treadmill, rower, punching bags, etc. Now will venture outside when the weather gets warmer to use my new GPS tracker! Also great review of it on this site! Made my decision in getting the Fenix 3 HR easier! Thank you DC Rainmaker!
I was traveling to a ski resort, but managed to do a sort of long training of 90 minutes on a treadmill
I did some road cycling and 2 indoor bike training.
Can not run these days… Achille tendinitis :(
So bike training and Core training only
Went for a hike up Ryan Mountain trail and took a half hour swim
Last weekend happened to be recovery days after two hard weeks. I only did a 1000 meter swim.
Does being a couch patato counts as well?
I did a gym workout last saturday plus some slacklining training…
Last weekend I did a 2 hour road ride followed by a 5k run on Saturday. Sunday I did a short 1 hour mountain bike ride.
Last weekend was a 22 mile bike ride on Saturday with a 14 mile shorter bike ride on Sunday. While not super long, it is still super cold here!!
First outdoor ride of this year. Observed effect from long hard on trainer ride on road ride.
90 minute session on trainer with target power. Nothing on sunday unfortunately
The usual winter weekend stuff: 2 mountainbike rides in the woods
I did some strength work on Saturday, then a nice progressive long run on Sunday.
I was only able to manager a 4 mile outdoor run on Sunday.
I was supposed to run a half marathon, but a stress fracture prevented me.
My training last weekend called for a 22 miler on Saturday an a 10 on Sunday, I did the 22 on a local trail, my longest ever on a trail. Parts were still snow covered so I worked really hard on making my feet go straight and not falling. I guess I tried too hard because my hips did NOT want to move that night! There went my Sunday run too!
Just a pool swimming, 1.4km… trying to get a better rhythm from now on!
Swim and Bike for 7 and a half hours :)
Mon – Fri: Gym during lunch. 1k ft vertical in the evening. Sat – Sun: 75 road miles. Surfing.
Ran 3 miles on Saturday.
Ran 2 miles on Sunday.
Also assisted on Sunday with traffic control during the 48th annual Birch Bay Marathon.
FTP building sessions with Zwift.
Blew out my ACL skiing so my workout log for last weekend was lay in bed with ice on my knee.
2k easy as a warm up, then 10x400m repetitions / 400m jogging and then 2k easy. Pleasant weather & no wind resulted in a really good training session.
some solid run /walking, just getting back from an injury!
Hi! I had a couple solid trainer sessions using my Wahoo Kickr and Trainer Road, and ran 5.5 miles through Central Park!
Sunday: Race Support for my wife running Austin Marathon
Monday: 12 Miles, Outdoor on Bike
Tuesday: 6 Mile Run AM; 10 Miles, Outdoor Bike
Thursday: 7 Mile Run AM
Did an early Saturday morning 10k run in the forest with the dog, I often borrow for this from a friend. Very nice to have company. Sunday just being lazy.
It was a 10 mile run with 8 of those at steady state pace.
The weekend was busy from a training perspective: a trainer ride testing RLV stuff, some short running intervalls and then the swimming workout with the local tri club.
This weekend I skipped any real workouts and moved my entire family in a matter of three days!
Just a 5 hour kayak and 55km bike ride.
I did an interval run on the treadmill and some light resistance band training.
Onde Hilly run on Saturday and a 60km bike ride on Sunday. Had a marvellous, under strong wind and heavy rain, run on Saturday which was my birthday. But had to skip the bike on Sunday. Monday crashed in to a car and now I am lying on an hospital awaiting surgery. But in 4 to 5 weeks I’ll be black!
Long steady state swim and a 120 minute ride.
On saturday I did just a 2h ride in zone two after a 15h car ride to intaly to my first trainingcamp since 8 years Sunday was a 5,5h ride in the hills with sone nice weather.
I ran for a total of 8.8 miles, two different runs. Walked for 3 miles split into three days. I also biked for 6.5 miles. I have also done a workout video about 5 times the last week.
Had and off day and an active recovery day. Mostly body weight exercises to get the blood flowing then lots of rolling.
Last weekend my training log had the last two stages of the Tour of Sufferlandria; which meant 4 sufferfest videos. In between, I did a very hard hilly run.
Saturday morning spin class with the DC Tri Club!
I did a 20-miler on the treadmill due to a cold snap. I followed that up with a two hour trainer ride. Thanks!
I did a 55 mile solo ride on flats on Saturday while on Sunday, my friend and I did a climb day with 3000′ climbing over 30 miles.
4 mile jog on Saturday and a 12 mile run in -8 degrees wind chill on Sunday
no run last week-end, still in my recovery of my last 100 miles , and it was too cold in Quebec, -40F
3 hrs of running and biking on both Saturday and Sunday.
I should have had a long run but I found a cheap flight to Madrid (where my girlfriend actually is right now) and decided it was a better option putting in some 25km and aLOT of vertical elevation wondering by that city. Oh it poured rain too for half of the time.
As usual thanks for your wise and Funny words on the blog, we all appreciate it!
Have a nice day
Andrea
10k/40k run-bike brick on Saturday (indoors, it’s cold here), followed by a 5k V-Day-themed tune-up race Sunday.
15 mile run one day then 2.5 hrs on the trainer with 10×6 mins at 85-90% with 3 min rest in between
Because of injury it says 6weeks nothing :-(.
My second road bike training: 25km through “piccolo Stelvio”.
It’s so fun!!!!
Had a great ride on Saturday…that ended with my first flat ever! Then I had to complete the 2 mile walk home!
It was time to blow through my Zwift trial, started my FTP builder, Days 1 and 2, it was quad-crushing magic.
I have 3 bricks with a lot of bike and run intervals… i don’t swim…. yet
Seven mile run along the beach
Long 23 km with a friend along Brisbane River
preparing for my first sub 3 marathon I had to 24km with 19km at marathon pace
(4:16/km). One of the coldest runs I ever did. Almost froze to death on my way back because
of the awful headwind. Does Clever Training offer a Treadmill for less than 600$ ?
A light week on the bike with four rides and a total of 72 miles, finished with two days of snowboarding to mix things up.
Running three times this week, running slower to ameliorate heart condition and run faster later !
40 mins on the trainer because I wasn’t feeling the best and then a 9+ mile run outside in 10F weather
Last we… that was hard to choose between a ski day and a Cycle-cross session. But the weather chose for me. Gravel bike, mud, cold and rain for a fantastic workout ;)
Four round brick of 20 min cycle, 10 min run on Saturday, long run Sunday.
Consisted of one hour road bike and 12 kilometers run in Intervals: 5min run – 2 min walk. Training towards my second tri! Woo :)
First 25K run of the year.
Saturday weight training doing 5 x 5’s. Sunday was just a light swim.
I did a 5K time trial. 20 second improvement from 2 months ago!
3 nice running sessions of 6km each, after a long stop for injury
90 minutes on the bike Saturday and two hours Sunday. Both days had short runs.
Mostly laziness. Some sprints with my fast dog (part greyhound) but, unfortunately for both of us, not enough to be called a workout.
i was swimming and indoor cycling
A 10K run and some weight lifting
After an injury break I got back on track. I did a relaxed 12.6 km run on Saturday and Sufferfest’s “To Get To The Other Side” /w TrainerRoad (1.5 h) on Sunday.
A couple of walks, due to injury.
Soccer game, chasing the kids around, and 2 5k runs.
12k easy run on sunday
It’s been a while. I have not visited your site to prevent me from buying more things. Haha. I have missed A LOT of product reviews indeed. Time to catch up.
With it being a bit crappy (wet and slippy underfoot) took to the roads rather than the country for 5 x 1km Reps off 90 seconds with some 100 metre strides at the end to round things off :)
Taking the kids snowboarding
last weekend I did a trainerroad workout on Saturday and had a club ride on Sunday.
Thanks for the opportunity Ray!
7 KM tempo run.
Saturday has generally been my rest day lately, but Sunday was my “long run” for an hour on the treadmill at the gym due to the extremely frigid temperatures and ridiculous winds that occurred up here in the New England area.
Lots of running last weekend :-).
Friday morning was an icy 5mile run (lots of black ice).
Saturday morning was interval training down at the beach (blowing a gale with horizontal sleet/rain).
Sunday’s long run was 26miles out and back along the Fife coastal path (and sunny for a change)
Lots of running, but then I’m training for a 53 mile ultra at the end of April.
Had to work the weekend, but managed to slip in a half marathon along the river in Munich. Not a bad little 6AM workout.
Saturday 8 miles with 5 miles tempo, Sunday 20 miles long run (my longest run).
Well, 2 kids – that is enough workout for this week!
i ran 10km in the forrest nearby my home in Luxembourg
Couple of short runs – avoiding the brutal cold in the North East.
Due to the fact that i am currently at home, my program last week was as follows:
Monday running 6km, Tuesday rowing 5km, Wednesday running 10km, Thursday rowing 5km, Friday and Saturday running (each between 7-10km), Sunday day off.
For me about 8km with a 4:30 pace!
Did hill reps on saturday and crossfit on sunday. Legs on fire :-)
I did a HIIT session of about 20 minutes on Saturday, painful Sunday :)
I spent three days of playing in the snow/ice on my new cyclocross bike. Only a handful of dodgy moments and crashes :)
I did a 5k, a one-hour LT session on the bike, and a transition tempo run of 15 minutes.
A long weekend of work and no training!
Made it to the gym a couple of times…I’m really pathetic right now. Sad face
8 miles on Saturday and then 16 beautiful miles on Sunday with my wife. We ran along the river and saw a pair of kingfishers.
Due to work in saturday, only a 38k/1h FTP test in sunday. 220W, theres spme more work to do.
A couple of training rides on my Kickr Snap and Trainer Road
Ran on of my longest workouts ~15miles and did 4 miles with some nasty hillwork on a dam near my house.