David Roche is a long-established short-distance trail runner and mountain runner. That definition was turned on its head in 2024, however, when he broke the 19-year-old Leadville 100 Mile course record, set by the legendary Matt Carpenter, in his 100-mile debut. He then doubled down by winning the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile, earning a coveted Golden Ticket into the 2025 Western States 100.
But who is David Roche when he’s at home? A running coach, husband, dad of two, and a multitasker. When I spoke with him, he shared: “Currently, I’m feeding Ollie, our six-week-old, a bottle. So, if any of my answers are off, just blame it on that!” We delved into his path into the sport, his training philosophies, and his inquisitive mind — which frames training and racing as an exercise in problem-solving and a never-ending learning process.
David Roche taking the win at the 2024 Leadville 100 Mile in course record time. Photo: Cody Bare
Early Years
David Roche grew up on the Eastern shore of Maryland. An unlikely starting point for someone who would go on to represent the U.S. in mountain running, he said, “It’s really known for cornfields as far as the eye can see, and not a hill in sight. Or the biggest hill coming up out of a river would be about 50 feet.” In his rural homestead — he lived a 25-minute drive from his high school — he sought and found human connection through the language of sports.
He said: “I grew up playing sports, that was the social currency. Baseball was my first love, and then football became what I really pursued heavily in high school.”
Roche attended college in New York City to play football, but his career was not to last. He said, “I was a medium-sized fish in a very small pond where I grew up. And then I went to college in New York City, which was a big culture shock, and I was on the football team for just a short time because I realized it was not for me.”
His time playing football was still a worthwhile learning curve for Roche and helped him to understand his strengths and weaknesses, as he reflected: “I was very good at training. I think what made me good at football in high school was I loved the process of trying to solve these scientific problems, like, How can I be the best sprinter possible? And so, after I quit, I still wanted to solve other athletic problems. I wanted to be an athlete for life.”
Looking for another sport to which he could apply his love of training, Roche turned to cycling. Cycling had played an important role in his youth, as his father competed as a cyclist, and he had fond memories of watching the daily recaps of stages of the Tour de France during summers at home.
He said, “I was always the type to shoot big shots, so I thought, I’m going to become a professional cyclist. Although Roche did show some ability in the sport and quickly trained up to a reasonable level, he admitted: “I did not have good bike handling skills. I got in enough crashes early on in bike racing to think, This isn’t the answer either.”
David Roche getting in some bike miles, which he still uses for cross training. Photo: David Roche
Discovering Running
When Roche discovered running in his sophomore year of college, he felt he could finally call off the search. He shared: “That became my new love … I liked that this was something I could improve at … just starting the process of putting down some bricks.” Running quickly became his primary sport, but Roche kept up some biking alongside it for a time and competed in duathlons.
As he was still living in New York City, trail running was yet to find Roche, and he competed first on the roads. He recalls that he first learned about trail running by reading blogs by Anton Krupicka and other prominent trail runners of the time, but it would be some years before he would try it for himself.
When eventually he dipped his toe in trail running — signing up for a trail race in Pennsylvania on a whim with his dad — he was immediately sold on this new discipline of running. He said: “[Road racing] was so hard. Often, I would get sick after, my stomach would get really bad, I even had to go to the hospital once. But then I did a trail race and was like, This is true play.” He added, “I’d always loved training, but I didn’t love the competing part, and this was the first time I loved the competing part. So, I was like, Trail running is where it’s at.”
Solving the Puzzle of Ultrarunning
Along with discovering the trails, Roche points to meeting his wife Megan Roche in 2010 as a major turning point in his running life. He recalled, “From there, it took off. I think it was having someone who greenlit these crazy ambitions that seemed so unrealistic.” Roche raced prolifically and continued to research and experiment with training methods in order to learn and grow as an athlete. His work paid off, and in 2012, he won the USATF 10k Trail National Championships and was awarded the 2014 USATF Trail Runner of the Year sub-ultramarathon distance award.
In 2014, both he and Megan — who had just been married — were selected to represent Team USA at the 2014 Mountain Running World Championships, but a disappointing race for each of them prompted them to try something different. He recalled: “We both had had days we weren’t super thrilled with, and the USATF 50k Trail National Championships were at the Flagline 50k in Oregon, and we were in California, and we said, ‘Why don’t we just drive up there?’ Megan had barely gone over 16 miles at that point.” Roche finished just off the podium in fourth and surprised himself with how much he enjoyed going longer.
David and Megan Roche on Team USA at the 2014 Mountain Running World Championships. Photo courtesy of David Roche.
He confessed to having been guilty of pigeon-holing himself as a short-distance runner and shared: “I always thought that I was a faster twitch athlete who would always suffer the longer the race got … Breaking down that assumption was something that would take me a decade.”
A major shift that helped him master longer distances was getting to grips with high-carb fueling. He said: “With hindsight, what I’d felt in all my previous races was bonking — glycogen depletion. I have quite a high burn rate, just because of my physiology, and it took the science progressing about that to realize that all these training principles need to interact with fueling principles.”
In 2014, Roche also began coaching, which he described as “my calling, even more than being an athlete.” Together with wife Megan, the couple has since expanded their coaching business, which is now called SWAP Running — the acronym meaning “Some work, all play.”
Roche continued to rack up wins at sub-ultra distances but now peppered his racing seasons with a few competitive 50ks. In 2016, he won the Way Too Cool 50k, and the following year, he was back representing Team USA over the 50k distance at the 2017 Trail World Championships in Italy.
As his perspective on the kind of athlete he could be slowly shifted, Roche began to push the distances out further in 2023, winning the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 Mile and placing fifth at the Canyons 100k, where gastrointestinal issues made him realize he needed to focus even more on solving the fueling puzzle. But one major ultrarunning right-of-passage remained — 100 miles.
He shared, “I always wanted to [try 100 miles] because coaching lets you see just how fulfilling that process can be. Then, I started to realize in my training that I had solved a bit of my personal puzzle. I understood that maybe I hadn’t put the results on paper yet to back it up; I was ready to take some big swings at something totally different.”
Roche on a training run with Addie Dog. Photo courtesy of David Roche.
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 record, which had stood since 2005.
To secure an entry to the 100 miler, Roche first signed up for the 2024 Silver Rush 50 Mile in Leadville, Colorado, which he won, and his sights were now fully set on the long distance. Roche, who still breaks down training and racing to solving a series of problems, said: “This 100 miler at altitude presents such interesting scientific conundrums. A lot of the race is fast and smooth running, but then some of the race — 25 miles of it — is one of the nastier mountain races in the country. It goes up and over Hope Pass, which is as hard as it gets. And also, altitude presents a fueling conundrum. It’s tough to do high-carb fueling up there. It’s hard to hydrate in the same way.”
After training on the course, Roche prepared a detailed pace chart, which allowed him to accurately predict his finish time to within 30 seconds. He shared: “If you view it as a bit of a math equation — for me, I understand how my physiology works at different heart rates very well, so I know I should be able to hold this heart rate for this long. And if I can do that, what it becomes is a fueling competition more than anything. Because when you’re going that hard, you’re burning through so many of your calories, and the only way to make it possible is by taking in a ton of fuel.”
Roche put away 120 to 140 grams of carbohydrates per hour for the duration of the race, which he credits with allowing him to maintain an intense effort for longer than he had ever run before.
David Roche at Twin Lakes, during the 2024 Leadville 100 Mile. Photo: Cody Bare
By managing his effort and fueling according to the plan, the day went as smoothly as a 100-mile race can, with Roche getting 80 miles in before hitting any major low points. He recalled, “There is a climb at mile 80 called Powerline. It’s a very steep climb, and it goes back up to altitude. I was starting to pass out at the top of that climb … My pacer Teddy said, ‘Just get down in altitude.’ Then everything was pretty fine.”
Roche cruised to the finish in 15 hours, 26 minutes, and 34 seconds — to rapturous applause — taking 16 minutes off a seemingly untouchable course record. But more than the result, he recalls: “I really got to have fun during it; that’s the part I look back on so fondly, and getting to see Megan at aid stations. And the cool thing about this course is it’s an out-and-back, so I got to see every single athlete doing the race.”
Checking in with son, Leo, at a checkpoint. Photo: Cody Bare
The 2024 Javelina 100 Mile
Despite the huge stir that Roche’s achievement prompted in the ultrarunning world, internally, he struggled with imposter syndrome. He needed to prove to himself that it was not a “fluke,” and he was searching for another goal before long. And that’s when the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile presented itself as an attractive option.
He shared his reasoning: “Javelina is a Golden Ticket race to the Western States 100. And I love Aravaipa Running, and Jamil Coury and Jubilee Page, the race director. They are some of the best people in the community. So, I thought, What better place to challenge myself.”
In Javelina, Roche saw a completely different kind of problem to solve to Leadville — a field with greater competitive depth and a flat, fast, hot race without the altitude component. He proved his versatility and took a commanding win in 12 hours and 45 minutes, earning a Golden Ticket to the 2025 Western States 100.
David Roche proudly accepting the Western States 100 Golden Ticket for his win at the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile. Photo: Cody Bare
Looking Ahead
So far, training for the Western States 100 is going well. Always one to wear his ambitions on his sleeve, Roche shared, “Just like at Leadville, I was not shy about saying, ‘I want to take the course record.’ At Western States, I’m not shy about saying I want to win.” However, he is not underestimating the competition and added: “The thing about Western States is the best athletes that ever lived will be running it. Realistically, I might have less than a 1% chance. But I think sports are all about taking big shots.”
Roche credits the support of his wife Megan with his success. He said, “Megan is the smartest, kindest, warmest person I’ve ever met. And so, living with her and having her as a coach and daily support makes everything feel possible.” The two share parenting duties but also prioritize one another’s training, and he said: “We tell the other person that, ‘Whatever you need for training, you get. And we’re never going to make you feel guilty about it.’”
The Roche family enjoying a day at the beach. Photo courtesy of David Roche.
Roche is very open about sharing his training publicly, in the hope that others can learn something from his methods and contribute in some way to the growing body of knowledge on endurance training. He said, “I want to see not just what I can do; I want to see what humans can do.” In the build-up to the race, he is publishing a series on his YouTube channel called “Road to Western States 100.”
Once June 2025 rolls around, we will be very interested to see what this particular human can do on his Western States 100 debut.
Call for Comments
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