David Roche Wants to “Science the Sh*t” Out of UltraRunning

This interview was originally published on September 24, 2024.

David Roche is a decorated trail runner, coach, and co-founder of SWAP Running. He's a two-time national champion and a three-time Team USA member, and he recently set the course record at the Leadville 100 trail run with a time of 15 hours, 26 minutes, 34 seconds.

David and his wife, Megan Roche, M.D., offer coaching that blends science, training theory, and a philosophy of joy and long-term growth for all athletes. Megan just launched a website—Huzzah—“to empower female endurance athletes by providing accessible sports science knowledge and fostering a love for sport through content, insights, and scholarships, with a focus on supporting overall health, education, and competitive edge.”

I’ve become a bit obsessed with how David thinks about running and how invested he and Megan are in reading and implementing the science of training and racing. So I needed to nerd out with him on some topics.

In this interview, I picked David’s mind about his scientific approach to training, and we detail several of the training practices he used in his buildup to the race, including:

Sodium bicarbonate

Downhill running

High-carb fueling

Super shoes

Post-exercise exogenous ketones

Heat training/hot water immersion

Caffeine

Heart rate zones

And more!

Relevant links

For more details about David and SWAP Running, visit their About Us page

Follow David on X @MountainRoche

Watch the documentary about David’s record: Leadville 100 Ultramarathon & David Roche's Run for The Impossible Record and the other kick-ass videos he posts about training on his YouTube channel.

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