European Champion at 38: Training Like a Pro as an Amateur Athlete | S2 Ep10 | Damaine Benjamin

This is The Amateur Athlete Diaries. Listen in to learn, connect, and hear stories from those performing in their sport whilst balancing work and life.In this episode, I sit down with Damaine Benjamin. A European Masters Champion in the 400m hurdles, sports massage therapist, coach, father of two, and full-time working athlete.He trains five to six days a week.He funds his own competitions.He even coaches himself.And at 38 years old, he became European Champion.But this conversation shows the far from plain sailing path to a gold medal. We discuss:- Growing up competing in Jamaica’s ultra-competitive athletics system- Sleeping on campus and training at night when access was restricted- Quitting athletics entirely and playing Sunday league football- Returning overweight and out of shape in 2015- Injuries, setbacks, being told he was “getting old”- Learning to reduce volume and train smarter, not harder- Winning European gold while thinking about how it would grow his business- Why Masters athletics is more competitive than ever- And what it truly means to be an Amateur AthleteDamaine opens up about discipline, identity, community, self-coaching, social media, and why he believes speed is everything, even in life outside the track.He also shares insights from his experience as a coach:- Why most 400m runners train endurance when they should train speed- How periodisation changed his career in his late 30s- The realities of self-funding international competitionListen in and hear about what it took to reach European Gold at 38.