Imagine he does win WSER in a record time though, people here are going to lose their mind, it would be incredible. Especially if he wins in some fluky way.
I for one hope he fails miserably. And it shocks me to say that because I’ve never pulled against anyone in this sport. Something about the Roches just doesn’t sit right with me though, and I’ve had more than my fill of David’s “look at meeee!” self promotion.
Not sure I'm here for this. I just hope that the truth and facts prevail
I for one hope he fails miserably. And it shocks me to say that because I’ve never pulled against anyone in this sport. Something about the Roches just doesn’t sit right with me though, and I’ve had more than my fill of David’s “look at meeee!” self promotion.
Not sure I'm here for this. I just hope that the truth and facts prevail
And that’s completely fair. I realize it’s a spicy take.
Without spamming the board with a wall of text, I’ll just say that something about what David is doing feels gross and goes against the very nature of the sport. I’ve listened to him go on incessantly about Leadville since his CR. He broke the record. It was historic. It was the best performance of the year among trail runners. The best in the world.
David isn’t the first ultrarunner to have a social media presence. You could go back to Anton Krupicka’s blog I guess. But that felt more like a creative outlet for Anton rather than a way to pimp himself out for clicks.
My disdain has nothing to do with David’s success. I’ve pulled for Jim, Courtney, Katy, Zach, Kilian, the list goes on. But something in me knows that if David’s ego is left unchecked, the rest of us are going to be worse for it.
Not sure I'm here for this. I just hope that the truth and facts prevail
My disdain has nothing to do with David’s success. I’ve pulled for Jim, Courtney, Katy, Zach, Kilian, the list goes on. But something in me knows that if David’s ego is left unchecked, the rest of us are going to be worse for it.
I do agree with this.
Also, while nothing has led me to think that he's anything but clean, given how much he goes out of his way to lie over and over and over, I wouldn't be surprised if he crosses the line there
I for one hope he fails miserably. And it shocks me to say that because I’ve never pulled against anyone in this sport. Something about the Roches just doesn’t sit right with me though, and I’ve had more than my fill of David’s “look at meeee!” self promotion.
I really hope he crashes and burns and I have also never actively rooted against anybody in this sport. What he's doing for clicks + kudos in January does not bode well for longevity to Western. And yeah, the dude is a really robust athlete and I'm not doubting his achievements but something about this and the need for external validation feels extremely fragile. He's riding a wave after Leadville, for sure, but all waves crash eventually. He's still human. But who knows what else he's doing to avoid reality....
I don't know that I am actively rooting against him, but I am curious (and a little doubtful) about how he'll do at WS. I know he's all-in on vVO2 training & running economy, which I understand, up to a point, but it appears he doing some monster vo2max workouts primarily for YouTube/ Strava clicks and to show how manly he is. And to impress Killian, or something? I don't know the the injury risk is work the benefits in a 100m race, but that will remain to be seen.
I do dislike the example he sets by telling ordinary recreational runners on YouTube that he doesn't have time for threshold workouts and will instead do these ridiculous mile repeats to build ultra fitness. Most (non-doping) runners would get hurt if they train like he claims to.
I'll say I am definitely rooting against him at this point. Part of what really annoys me is also the response from the ultra community. Sure some here are pointing out their behavior and what not but the community as a whole is pretty gross at this point. Remember when Walmsley first broke onto the scene and he had a ton of haters just for setting huge goals even though he wasn't even a fraction of attention seeking as the Roches? And now we welcome this kind of behavior? No thanks! Lets hope Big Jim knocks him down a peg!
Yeah, Jim came into the sport a bit aggressively. But he seems to have mellowed, and what’s more, he seems well-liked within the professional running community. I can’t say the same for David.
David is an embarrassment to the ultra running community, the pro field laughs at him behind his back but are too timid to do it publicly because he’s “all about love!!!” and his little SWAP fanatics defend his every word he says. Eventually the truth will come out, I can see him having a mental breakdown very soon…
I really hope he crashes and burns and I have also never actively rooted against anybody in this sport. What he's doing for clicks + kudos in January does not bode well for longevity to Western. And yeah, the dude is a really robust athlete and I'm not doubting his achievements but something about this and the need for external validation feels extremely fragile. He's riding a wave after Leadville, for sure, but all waves crash eventually. He's still human. But who knows what else he's doing to avoid reality....
I don't know that I am actively rooting against him, but I am curious (and a little doubtful) about how he'll do at WS. I know he's all-in on vVO2 training & running economy, which I understand, up to a point, but it appears he doing some monster vo2max workouts primarily for YouTube/ Strava clicks and to show how manly he is. And to impress Killian, or something? I don't know the the injury risk is work the benefits in a 100m race, but that will remain to be seen.
I do dislike the example he sets by telling ordinary recreational runners on YouTube that he doesn't have time for threshold workouts and will instead do these ridiculous mile repeats to build ultra fitness. Most (non-doping) runners would get hurt if they train like he claims to.
I know several fairly high level runners that have had basically career ending overuse injuries under Roche "coaching." To be fair injuries can happen to anyone, but I think they certainly 'burn it hotter' compared to most and probably (most likely) don't care to take the time to personalize the training schedules and workouts for all their individual athletes who may be racing different events on different weeks. When you're copying and pasting basically the same workout templates for dozens and dozens of runners all at the same time it can be easy to overtrain someone!
That's a good long run, though the GAP is probably pretty generous since the entire second half was downhill. What interests me though is that he claims to have consumed 140g of carbs per hour. That's 350g (1400 cal) total. Anyone else find that hard to believe? That would be roughly 11-12 Precision Fuel gels over 2.5 hours. Of course a large portion of the carbs likely came from fluids, not gels, but still. That's a very high intake rate.
Director Cody Bare makes this so much fun! I left my arm band HR at home, so that data is useless. 140ish grams of carbs per hour! Thank you all for making this scary process so fun 🧡 | Strava
David is an embarrassment to the ultra running community, the pro field laughs at him behind his back but are too timid to do it publicly because he’s “all about love!!!” and his little SWAP fanatics defend his every word he says. Eventually the truth will come out, I can see him having a mental breakdown very soon…
Is this true though? I find him just as annoying as the next guy does, but look at his roster page. He's got a LOT of fairly high profile athletes in his pocket. Perhaps when you're in you're IN but with such a large team of respectable ultra athletes I find it hard to believe that the pro field as a whole dislikes him.
That's a good long run, though the GAP is probably pretty generous since the entire second half was downhill. What interests me though is that he claims to have consumed 140g of carbs per hour. That's 350g (1400 cal) total. Anyone else find that hard to believe? That would be roughly 11-12 Precision Fuel gels over 2.5 hours. Of course a large portion of the carbs likely came from fluids, not gels, but still. That's a very high intake rate.
The carb intake is very possible, I've heard him talk about GI training
As an ultra back of the packer, training and consuming at 100 grams an hour is doable, just have to skip an hour here and an hour there while walking to reset stomach. But everyone is different.
I think you guys have it all wrong. Self promotion is gross but it’s how athletes get paid, and how coaches get clients. Having firebrands also tends to be good for the sport overall. I think having 500 posts hating on him is great for the sport, people care about him and will probably tune in to see him fail. The coaching services thing is bad, and that’s been discussed. What I don’t like is turning a sport like this into a science experiment, it takes all the fun out of it. A sport based on who can consume the most carbohydrate goop, caffeine, bicarb slurry, ketones, and who take the most heat baths, heat suit treadmill runs, who can live at altitude, and take the most personalized supplements sounds like a truly depressing sport. The self-aggrandizing is just classic pre-fight cutting a promo, and shilling sponsored products, thats just normal pay the bills stuff.
That's a good long run, though the GAP is probably pretty generous since the entire second half was downhill. What interests me though is that he claims to have consumed 140g of carbs per hour. That's 350g (1400 cal) total. Anyone else find that hard to believe? That would be roughly 11-12 Precision Fuel gels over 2.5 hours. Of course a large portion of the carbs likely came from fluids, not gels, but still. That's a very high intake rate.
I wouldn't be surprised if he exaggerated on this carbs per hour rate. Just like he exaggerates with his '4:00min-Mile fitness' and 'sub 14:00 for 5k fitness at altitude' or whatever that means. Every other thing he says is not proven at all! They spout BS.
One thing of note: He probably intentionally left the heart rate monitor at home so there would be no data trail there. I've seen him and Megs hide their HR data quite a bit on Strava too.
I am not a Roche lol. I just understand training theory and the differences between bike training in the context of a run-focused structure and bike training in the context of cycling-focused training for bike races
David is an embarrassment to the ultra running community, the pro field laughs at him behind his back but are too timid to do it publicly because he’s “all about love!!!” and his little SWAP fanatics defend his every word he says. Eventually the truth will come out, I can see him having a mental breakdown very soon…
I mean this isn’t entirely true at all. Jim was on his podcast. Kilian named him as one of his inspirations this year. So this is a bit of a reach. Some of this thread is ridiculous. Am I the only one to think it’s wrong to criticize someone’s body composition and personality? His personality is not for me but I go on with my day. Much of the criticisms on coaching and sub 4 are valid but some of this reads like sour grapes. Believe me trail running is not a good sport to make a lot of money. David through his podcast will make more money than pretty much all the shoe deals. Most athletes would love to have that.
David and Megan deserve all the criticism they get for being narcissists and liars and not being honest with coaching. That’s what I want them to be called out for.
I don’t care what they look like. I don’t like their personalities, but somehow other people do. To each their own. Whatever. I don’t want to be mean. I think it’s valid to say, “you’re lying about X” or “can you address your contradiction/hypocrisy?” But I don’t need to be an a**hole.
