Damian Carr - Team GB at IAU 24 Hour European Championship

"Fingers crossed I will get a GB call up to compete in the European championships next year which is held in Italy. That would be a dream come true. I want to try and give the UK 24 hour record a good go at. Got to dream big right?" - Damian Carr

XMiles Athlete, Damian Carr will be representing Team GB at the IAU 24 Hour European Championships in Verona, Italy between the 17-18 September.

Damian Carr leads the names within the men’s team having moved to fourth on the UK all-time list in only his second 24-hour race last year; he covered a distance of 262.916km in Crawley.

Training

Feeling strong, fit, healthy, fresh and ready to rock and roll. The build up has been great. Not just because I feel confident in my fitness, it's because I have prepared like never before.

This is down to Team Hour 7 and my new coach Robbie Britton. I attended a training camp in the Italian Alps, which was amazing.  Learning about Heat and Altitude training, nutrition, importance of blood lactate testing, sports psychology and much more. I was overwhelmed and so grateful for the opportunity. I love being around others who are so passionate about the sport.  

Nutrition Strategy

The most important thing is to consume enough carbs per hour in the race to sustain your target race effort however not too much for your body to become unsettled. Ultras are like a balancing act. My plan is to start with gels and liquids then more to solid foods as the race develops. The great thing about now a days that there is so many different types of sports nutrition on the market. My advice is in the months building up to your A race try out different products and see what works best.

View from a different angle

Written by partner of Damian Carr

From the outside people might think that Damian doesn’t take running that serious. You see him laughing and joking around, sipping cocktails and doing random workouts. But behind closed doors he is extremely hard working, disciplined and very organised. His preparation and motivation on a daily basis is very inspiring.

Damian will get all his breakfast, clothes, fuel for the session and recovery bits all set out the night before. Damian loves a good pamper night (probably kill me for saying). He always steals my products Temple spa Aaaah balm for his legs and work it out massage/bath oil after his runs & my Caudalie face products.

His favourite meal is Beef Stew with plenty of veg and dumplings but he loves a good steak cooked VERY well done & spaghetti bolognese too which I make, then he ruins it with mint sauce!! (I never known someone to put mint sauce on every meal!)

Working and Living with Damian, I have to ensure the little things don’t stress him out and make sure he is looking after himself and his training being the main focus, to give the best performance he can in Verona. Sleep, Eat healthy, No stress, Love & Family time is my moto to him as prep for his race too.

Helping Damian train is an amazing experience on the bike next to him each week handing him his gels and drinks alongside encouragement, and also supporting him at his races. Especially Keswick mountain festival 50k was amazing. 6 checkpoints getting to each one before he did handing him his nutrition. Firstly sending him the wrong way & then running out of water wasn’t my intentions! But I improvised & he would have never known. All in all Damian did fantastic.      

When he is not working, running or training with the army reserves he is with his family. Damian always puts his family first and loves seeing smiles on their faces. Now it’s his time being chosen for Team GB.