A Dialog with David Roche – iRunFar

David Roche is a long-established short-distance path runner and mountain runner. That definition was turned on its head in 2024, nonetheless, when he broke the 19-year-old Leadville 100 Mile course file, set by the legendary Matt Carpenter, in his 100-mile debut. He then doubled down by profitable the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile, incomes a coveted Golden Ticket into the 2025 Western States 100.

However who’s David Roche when he’s at house? A working coach, husband, dad of two, and a multitasker. Once I spoke with him, he shared: “At present, I’m feeding Ollie, our six-week-old, a bottle. So, if any of my solutions are off, simply blame it on that!” We delved into his path into the game, his coaching philosophies, and his inquisitive thoughts — which frames coaching and racing as an train in problem-solving and a endless studying course of.

Early Years

David Roche grew up on the Jap shore of Maryland. An unlikely start line for somebody who would go on to characterize the U.S. in mountain working, he mentioned, “It’s actually identified for cornfields so far as the attention can see, and never a hill in sight. Or the most important hill arising out of a river can be about 50 ft.” In his rural homestead — he lived a 25-minute drive from his highschool — he sought and located human connection by means of the language of sports activities.

He mentioned: “I grew up enjoying sports activities, that was the social forex. Baseball was my old flame, after which soccer grew to become what I actually pursued closely in highschool.”

Roche attended faculty in New York Metropolis to play soccer, however his profession was to not final. He mentioned, “I used to be a medium-sized fish in a really small pond the place I grew up. After which I went to school in New York Metropolis, which was an enormous tradition shock, and I used to be on the soccer group for simply a short while as a result of I noticed it was not for me.”

His time enjoying soccer was nonetheless a worthwhile studying curve for Roche and helped him to grasp his strengths and weaknesses, as he mirrored: “I used to be excellent at coaching. I feel what made me good at soccer in highschool was I liked the method of making an attempt to resolve these scientific issues, like, How can I be the most effective sprinter doable? And so, after I stop, I nonetheless needed to resolve different athletic issues. I needed to be an athlete for all times.”

Searching for one other sport to which he might apply his love of coaching, Roche turned to biking. Biking had performed an necessary position in his youth, as his father competed as a bike owner, and he had fond recollections of watching the day by day recaps of levels of the Tour de France throughout summers at house.

He mentioned, “I used to be all the time the kind to shoot large pictures, so I assumed, I’m going to turn out to be an expert bike owner. Though Roche did present some capability within the sport and shortly skilled as much as an affordable stage, he admitted: “I didn’t have good bike dealing with expertise. I received in sufficient crashes early on in bike racing to assume, This isn’t the reply both.”

Discovering Operating

When Roche found working in his sophomore 12 months of school, he felt he might lastly name off the search. He shared: “That grew to become my new love … I favored that this was one thing I might enhance at … simply beginning the method of placing down some bricks.” Operating shortly grew to become his main sport, however Roche stored up some biking alongside it for a time and competed in duathlons.

As he was nonetheless dwelling in New York Metropolis, path working was but to search out Roche, and he competed first on the roads. He recollects that he first discovered about path working by studying blogs by Anton Krupicka and different outstanding path runners of the time, however it could be some years earlier than he would attempt it for himself.

When finally he dipped his toe in path working — signing up for a path race in Pennsylvania on a whim together with his dad — he was instantly bought on this new self-discipline of working. He mentioned: “[Road racing] was so arduous. Typically, I’d get sick after, my abdomen would get actually unhealthy, I even needed to go to the hospital as soon as. However then I did a path race and was like, That is true play.” He added, “I’d all the time liked coaching, however I didn’t love the competing half, and this was the primary time I liked the competing half. So, I used to be like, Path working is the place it’s at.”

Fixing the Puzzle of Ultrarunning

Together with discovering the paths, Roche factors to assembly his spouse Megan Roche in 2010 as a serious turning level in his working life. He recalled, “From there, it took off. I feel it was having somebody who greenlit these loopy ambitions that appeared so unrealistic.” Roche raced prolifically and continued to analysis and experiment with coaching strategies with the intention to study and develop as an athlete. His work paid off, and in 2012, he gained the USATF 10k Path Nationwide Championships and was awarded the 2014 USATF Path Runner of the Yr sub-ultramarathon distance award.

In 2014, each he and Megan — who had simply been married — have been chosen to characterize Staff USA on the 2014 Mountain Operating World Championships, however a disappointing race for every of them prompted them to attempt one thing completely different. He recalled: “We each had had days we weren’t tremendous thrilled with, and the USATF 50k Path Nationwide Championships have been on the Flagline 50k in Oregon, and we have been in California, and we mentioned, ‘Why don’t we simply drive up there?’ Megan had barely gone over 16 miles at that time.” Roche completed simply off the rostrum in fourth and stunned himself with how a lot he loved going longer.

He confessed to having been responsible of pigeon-holing himself as a short-distance runner and shared: “I all the time thought that I used to be a sooner twitch athlete who would all the time undergo the longer the race received … Breaking down that assumption was one thing that may take me a decade.”

A significant shift that helped him grasp longer distances was attending to grips with high-carb fueling. He mentioned: “With hindsight, what I’d felt in all my earlier races was bonking — glycogen depletion. I’ve fairly a excessive burn fee, simply due to my physiology, and it took the science progressing about that to understand that every one these coaching ideas have to work together with fueling ideas.”

In 2014, Roche additionally started teaching, which he described as “my calling, much more than being an athlete.” Along with spouse Megan, the couple has since expanded their teaching enterprise, which is now referred to as SWAP Operating — the acronym that means “Some work, all play.”

Roche continued to rack up wins at sub-ultra distances however now peppered his racing seasons with just a few aggressive 50ks. In 2016, he gained the Method Too Cool 50k, and the next 12 months, he was again representing Staff USA over the 50k distance on the 2017 Path World Championships in Italy.

As his perspective on the form of athlete he may very well be slowly shifted, Roche started to push the distances out additional in 2023, profitable the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 Mile and inserting fifth on the Canyons 100k, the place gastrointestinal points made him notice he wanted to focus much more on fixing the fueling puzzle. However one main ultrarunning right-of-passage remained — 100 miles.

He shared, “I all the time needed to [try 100 miles] as a result of teaching allows you to see simply how fulfilling that course of might be. Then, I began to understand in my coaching that I had solved a little bit of my private puzzle. I understood that perhaps I hadn’t put the outcomes on paper but to again it up; I used to be able to take some large swings at one thing completely completely different.”

The 2024 Leadville 100 Mile

And so, the seed was sown for the 2024 Leadville 100 Mile, and from early on, Roche set his sights on Matt Carpenter’s course file, which had stood since 2005.

To safe an entry to the 100 miler, Roche first signed up for the 2024 Silver Rush 50 Mile in Leadville, Colorado, which he gained, and his sights have been now totally set on the lengthy distance. Roche, who nonetheless breaks down coaching and racing to fixing a collection of issues, mentioned: “This 100 miler at altitude presents such attention-grabbing scientific conundrums. A number of the race is quick and clean working, however then among the race — 25 miles of it — is among the nastier mountain races within the nation. It goes up and over Hope Move, which is as arduous because it will get. And likewise, altitude presents a fueling conundrum. It’s powerful to do high-carb fueling up there. It’s arduous to hydrate in the identical means.”

After coaching on the course, Roche ready an in depth tempo chart, which allowed him to precisely predict his end time to inside 30 seconds. He shared: “In case you view it as a little bit of a math equation — for me, I perceive how my physiology works at completely different coronary heart charges very nicely, so I do know I ought to have the ability to maintain this coronary heart fee for this lengthy. And if I can do this, what it turns into is a fueling competitors greater than something. As a result of once you’re going that onerous, you’re burning by means of so a lot of your energy, and the one solution to make it doable is by taking in a ton of gasoline.”

Roche put away 120 to 140 grams of carbohydrates per hour in the course of the race, which he credit with permitting him to keep up an intense effort for longer than he had ever run earlier than.

By managing his effort and fueling in response to the plan, the day went as easily as a 100-mile race can, with Roche getting 80 miles in earlier than hitting any main low factors. He recalled, “There’s a climb at mile 80 referred to as Powerline. It’s a really steep climb, and it goes again as much as altitude. I used to be beginning to cross out on the high of that climb … My pacer Teddy mentioned, ‘Simply get down in altitude.’ Then all the things was fairly superb.”

Roche cruised to the end in 15 hours, 26 minutes, and 34 seconds — to rapturous applause — taking 16 minutes off a seemingly untouchable course file. However greater than the end result, he recollects: “I actually received to have enjoyable throughout it; that’s the half I look again on so fondly, and attending to see Megan at assist stations. And the cool factor about this course is it’s an out-and-back, so I received to see each single athlete doing the race.”

The 2024 Javelina 100 Mile

Regardless of the large stir that Roche’s achievement prompted within the ultrarunning world, internally, he struggled with imposter syndrome. He wanted to show to himself that it was not a “fluke,” and he was trying to find one other aim earlier than lengthy. And that’s when the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile introduced itself as a sexy choice.

He shared his reasoning: “Javelina is a Golden Ticket race to the Western States 100. And I really like Aravaipa Operating, and Jamil Coury and Jubilee Web page, the race director. They’re among the finest folks locally. So, I assumed, What higher place to problem myself.”

In Javelina, Roche noticed a very completely different form of drawback to resolve to Leadville — a discipline with better aggressive depth and a flat, quick, scorching race with out the altitude part. He proved his versatility and took a commanding win in 12 hours and 45 minutes, incomes a Golden Ticket to the 2025 Western States 100.

Trying Forward

To this point, coaching for the Western States 100 goes nicely. At all times one to put on his ambitions on his sleeve, Roche shared, “Identical to at Leadville, I used to be not shy about saying, ‘I need to take the course file.’ At Western States, I’m not shy about saying I need to win.” Nevertheless, he’s not underestimating the competitors and added: “The factor about Western States is the most effective athletes that ever lived can be working it. Realistically, I may need lower than a 1% probability. However I feel sports activities are all about taking large pictures.”

Roche credit the assist of his spouse Megan together with his success. He mentioned, “Megan is the neatest, kindest, warmest particular person I’ve ever met. And so, dwelling together with her and having her as a coach and day by day assist makes all the things really feel doable.” The 2 share parenting duties but additionally prioritize each other’s coaching, and he mentioned: “We inform the opposite individual that, ‘No matter you want for coaching, you get. And we’re by no means going to make you are feeling responsible about it.’”

Roche may be very open about sharing his coaching publicly, within the hope that others can study one thing from his strategies and contribute not directly to the rising physique of data on endurance coaching. He mentioned, “I need to see not simply what I can do; I need to see what people can do.” Within the build-up to the race, he’s publishing a collection on his YouTube channel referred to as “Highway to Western States 100.”

As soon as June 2025 rolls round, we can be very to see what this explicit human can do on his Western States 100 debut.

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