For 36-year-old David Roche, 2024 was his annus mirabilis–a miracle year. He entered the first two 100-mile races of his life and won both in convincing fashion.
No wonder he’s rated a top contender in the 2025 Western States 100-Mile. But his victories last year weren’t the biggest miracle.
The most stunning development was his rapid recovery from a horrific bike accident. In April, on a long training ride, he was struck by a car that veered across his path. According to the police report, Roche was sent flying 100 feet through the air before colliding with a metal fence.
The post-accident photos were gruesome, and the medical report worrisome. Roche broke his nose and wrist, had lacerations all over, and suffered a severe concussion.
For several weeks afterwards, he had trouble forming complete thoughts. He began to wonder if his brain function had been permanently altered.
Perhaps it was. Maybe his thinking was clarified, which led to harder, more focused training and racing.
Racing Farther And Faster Than Ever Before
In August, Roche broke a revered, 19-year-old course record in the high-altitude Leadville 100. What’s more, he predicted his time almost to the second.
Three months later, he did it again, winning a super-hot Javelina 100. Despite near-100-degree temperatures, he missed the course record by just two minutes.
Roche and his wife, Megan, also a top trail runner as well as a Stanford M.D. and PhD, produce a weekly podcast that’s one of the highest-rated in the running podcast community. It’s smutty, sexy, science-y, and unremittingly positive.
No one says “We love you,” “You’re amazing,” “We uplift you,” and “You got this” more than the Roches. It’s a bit much for some, an apparent tonic to many, and a seeming life mission to the Roches.
They met at Duke University in 2010. Megan Deakins was a top field hockey player, while David, a law school student, was beginning to explore his potential as a runner. Previously, as a Columbia undergrad, he had tried and failed at football. He didn’t expect to go far in running, since he considered himself a strength-trained, fast-twitch athlete.
By 2012, however, David had won the USATF 10K trail championships. In 2014, he launched the couple’s coaching business, “Some Work, All Play.” The Roches added the SWAP podcast in 2020. By then, Megan had qualified for a half dozen U.S. national teams in ultra and trail racing.
The podcast gained an audience drawn to their ribald banter and chemistry, as well as their “no secrets” philosophy and reports on science and personal experiences with training methods and nutritional supplements.
They are big fans of, among other things, green-powder drinks, high-carb fueling, various hydration and electrolyte drinks, uphill treadmill running, saunas, hot baths, and heat suits.
After many years of hard training and modest results, David began winning major races spectacularly last year. That spiked the podcast’s audience size. As did his “Optimize Your Training” appearance on the uber-popular Rich Roll podcast. The couple lives in Boulder, Colorado, with their two young sons and Addie, their dog.
The Heat Is On—Heat Suits, Speedwork, and a New Frontier in 100-Mile Training
In recent weeks, David has been laser-focused on his final preparations for the heat. He completed a tough 20-miler in a heat suit and winter jacket. After another 9.5 miler on a 98-degree day, he titled his Strava post: “Ready to dance through Hell.” He added, “Record heat today and didn’t feel it. Heat suit is truly strange physiology.”
David does this frequently, using his own posts and social media to psych himself up. On YouTube, a budding videographer named Cody Bare has chronicled David’s “Road To Western States.”
The most surprising of these videos has shown David doing fast speedwork more like a 10,000-meter ace than an ultra-runner. He runs 6 x 1-mile in the low 4:30s, or 20 x 400 meters in 66 seconds, followed by four 200s in 30 seconds. That’s another of his big coaching-training themes: It all starts with speed.
That’s not how runners and coaches have traditionally trained for 100-mile racing. But it could represent a new frontier. In a few days, we’ll know more.
Exclusive Interview: David Roche Is All In—From Coach to Serious Western States Contender
Below, David Roche answers questions about his amazing last 14 months and his preparations for this year’s Western States 100.
You’ve been running hard for a long time and have gained a solid reputation as a coach and podcaster. But now things have changed dramatically. You’re being mentioned in the same breath as championship ultra runners like Kilian Jornet and Jim Walmsley? How did that happen all of a sudden?
DR: I don’t know. I actually got the chills when you said that because I worship Kilian. As for Jim, let me give you some perspective. We actually raced each other in a 30K in Montana in like 2016 before Jim was even Jim. I had just won a 50K, so I was in my best shape at that time. And he beat me by 12 minutes, in a 30K.
So, how did we get to this situation today? I think I was maybe the first to crack the code on GI training for hydration and high carbs. Now we’ve moved on to heat-suit training. We’re trying to science the sh__ out of endurance performance. I’ve always been obsessed with solving problems, especially science problems.
Then last year, after the bike accident, I became hyper-aware that there is not enough time. You never know what race might be your last one, so I decided I’ll run every race like it’s my last. Time is fleeting, especially the time when you’re at this level where I am, and you’re going against this level of competition. The next generation will be passing me soon. So I’m going to shoot my shot, and we’ll see what happens.
Why do you and Megan use crude language in your podcast?
DR: We just believe in being authentic and not pulling punches. I mean, life is explicit, but there are just so many things that people don’t talk about even though they’re part of being human. Things like bodily functions.
Take cuss words. Personally, I think we should just use the words that are most expressive to us, and not sweat it. We don’t want to put out a podcast that’s for everybody. We want a podcast that’s extremely interesting for some people.
We don’t want to pull any punches. If listeners believe we’re only telling part of a story, how can they trust us for the rest of the story? That’s why we keep saying, “No secrets.” We’re willing to tell everything we see and know about coaching and performance.
You also say “I love you” and “You’re amazing” so much that it makes some people cringe. Why?
DR: Hey, if I can’t make people cringe, what am I even doing in the world? It all goes back to when I was an 11-year-old. I was the biggest kid in class, and very self-conscious, and I had a vivid realization about death. I also understood that if I had this scary thought, so did others, but we never talked about it.
I decided to try to be the kindest version of myself that I could be. It’s part of a cultural shift that I want to encourage. I decided to uplift everyone to give them validation and acknowledge our shared humanity.
Sometimes it seems that your training and nutrition combine every trick in the book. For example, you talk about long runs and speedwork, uphills and down, hot suits and ice bandanas, super shoes and nose strips, high fluid intake and high carb intake, caffeine, heart rate monitors, sodium and sodium bicarbonate, compression socks, cheeseburgers and citrulline, warming up with ankle weights, and who knows what else.
Here’s the question: How can you and Megan determine what in this hodgepodge is working, and what’s not?
DR: We can’t. That’s the hardest part of all this–the attributability problem. This is where my lawyering comes in handy. Lawyers would call it the “proximate cause.”
In exercise physiology, it’s nearly impossible to isolate the variables we want to isolate. So we have to think artistically and go back to human biology. That’s where Megan is so helpful. She doesn’t care about the results of a single study. She wants to consider the biology and medicine. Then, if that fits together with a certain study’s results, we’re going to push the idea harder and see what happens.
So, you’re right, we often don’t know for sure. But I think this is the most exciting part of what we do as coaches. We try to understand what works and what doesn’t work, and how to tell them apart.
What are your greatest strengths in the 100-mile distance?
DR: I’ll start by lumping high hydration and high carb intake together. At Quad Rock, I got to 150 grams of carbs per hour. I think I can do that at Western States even if it goes to 100 degrees.
Second, I’ve done a lot of heat-suit training this year. That boosts blood volume and hemoglobin, which should improve my basic physiology. I think I’m doing what the Kenyans and Ethiopians have always done. When we see them training, they’re mostly wearing full sweatsuits.
Third, I don’t walk on the hills, not even the really steep climbs. That saves time that adds up over 100 miles.
Last, I’ve got Megan as my crew chief. She understands all the little parts that have to come together to make a miracle possible.
Who’s going to win the men’s race at Western States?
DR: I’d put Jim Walmsley at about 80 percent. I mean, he’s the best to ever run Western States. He’s won it four times. He holds the course record. [Edit note: This interview was conducted several days before Walmsley took himself off the start list for reasons that have yet to be revealed.]
I’ve got Kilian at about 15 percent. His competitive level is beyond belief. Plus, he does all the science stuff like I do. He’s doing the long heat sessions like me.
Then there are three or four guys who are at about 5 percent, and I think I’m one of them. That doesn’t mean I’ll be in the top five or six, because that’s not what I’m running for.
I’m running to win. I’m going to take my shot.
If you missed Amby’s features on Kilian Jornet and Rod Farvard on the upcoming WS 100, check them out here:
