All this talking talking.. douchest ever
it was clear that at this heat any one can break at this pace
despite saying how done are goats, he really had no respect.
And Megan in the interview during the race said he would have won it on a good day… goodness, they deserve each other
Can't wait for the next Roche video!
I wonder if he will now reflect on the completely degenerate "30M in a heat suite" workout he did.
He claimed it was science, so obviously now he's going to look back at the data and realise that he dug himself into a hole for no benefit whatsoever, right? I could have told him that beforehand and save him the time and effort if he had asked, but I guess some people prefer to see for themselves.
Ahah, who am I kidding. Of course this was just an attention grab, he won't reflect on anything and maybe will do even more egregious workouts next time.
I was hoping he would finish and give a hard effort, so a DNF is disappointing. Some of the comments seem harsh, but it's hard to know what's true. People don't identify themselves or sources.
so much science, wow wrote:
I wonder if he will now reflect on the completely degenerate "30M in a heat suite" workout he did.
He claimed it was science, so obviously now he's going to look back at the data and realise that he dug himself into a hole for no benefit whatsoever, right? I could have told him that beforehand and save him the time and effort if he had asked, but I guess some people prefer to see for themselves.
Ahah, who am I kidding. Of course this was just an attention grab, he won't reflect on anything and maybe will do even more egregious workouts next time.
His entire persona and, by extention, his training is completely Strava-poisoned, so it's hard to imagine any sort of worthwhile self-reflection coming. He spent the last few months of this build basically only doing training to flex to his Strava followers and/or obfuscate how fast he actually is. His slow days had to be done in an 8 layer heat suit. He logged treadmill paces as accurate that, as a coach, he knows that he could absolutely not run on a track / road. Logged runs with the inaccurate Strava app to give his paces a little more juice. Claimed hard tempo runs were actually zone 2 runs because of his training history and, when he really fried himself in recent weeks, claimed his heart rate monitor was malfunctioning. But hey, at least Roche got the most kudos in this build, right?
Claude AI Analyses This Thread wrote:
"Whatever anyone thought might happen today, that image will stay with people far longer: Megan running after David, knowing it’s over, knowing he needs help, and walking him back herself. Not a coach, not a commentator, not a story manager—his person. No optics, no narrative strategy—just love, and concern, and the raw moment where ambition meets human limit.
He gave everything. They both did. And when the body said no more, they listened.
For all the noise swirling around this race—threads, videos, takes—this is the moment that cuts through it. It’s not triumph or schadenfreude. It’s care, in real time."
If there were a betting market where I could have bet on top 5 or DNF for Roche, I would have bet my life savings on it. He talks about everything he does in such Wagnerian terms. He was always going to be near the front or drop. Calling Western States a moonshot. He’s a very experienced runner and coach. It’s an ultra race. People do them all the time.
He’ll never finish a B race for the same reason he’s never run any race on the roads or track from 5k to marathon, because it would take the fantasy of how great of a runner he is and bring it back to reality. He is a very, very good runner. He *is* one of the better trail ultra runners out there, but there’s a perfectionist fiction of being something even more than that he feels compelled to push on the world, and that is the source of all this silliness.
What is wrong with you people? Roche was totally transparent about his training strategy. He said there were better athletes than him running and that his edge needed to be training differently. It worked for a CR at Leadville. He tried anorher approach for Western States and it didn’t work out. Good for him trying. The level of resentment and vitriol expressed in these threads says a lot more about the commenters’ insecurities and need to claim some kind of expertise than about Roche. Better to have dared and failed than sit at home and never tried.
DNF gate. Thinking that he could even keep up with an aging Jornet.
Liv2Run wrote:
What is wrong with you people? Roche was totally transparent about his training strategy. He said there were better athletes than him running and that his edge needed to be training differently. It worked for a CR at Leadville. He tried anorher approach for Western States and it didn’t work out. Good for him trying. The level of resentment and vitriol expressed in these threads says a lot more about the commenters’ insecurities and need to claim some kind of expertise than about Roche. Better to have dared and failed than sit at home and never tried.
Hi Megan
Detective P wrote:
People don't identify themselves or sources.
Source? The SOURCE is David’s behavior
Liv2Run wrote:
What is wrong with you people? Roche was totally transparent about his training strategy. He said there were better athletes than him running and that his edge needed to be training differently. It worked for a CR at Leadville. He tried anorher approach for Western States and it didn’t work out. Good for him trying. The level of resentment and vitriol expressed in these threads says a lot more about the commenters’ insecurities and need to claim some kind of expertise than about Roche. Better to have dared and failed than sit at home and never tried.
He was making a deliberate attempt to come across as a wacky genius who had found a hack to beat more talented runners.
If he was not trying to present himself as some savant at low-volume training and marginal gains, he'd get half as much hate.
Imagine a wife believing in her husband? Unthinkable!
Peoplesuck wrote:
Imagine a wife believing in her husband? Unthinkable!
i think what's crazy, is that, to us, their whole shtick is cringy af, but, in reality, we all wish we had a relationship like that. they were truly made for each other.
Did he have any one who he coaches in the event....how they do?
I totally agree with you. If he wanted to win Western States, he needed to be on the trails like every day putting in the big miles and vert. Doing speedwork on the track and on the treadmill as a training run for a 100-mile trail race with 25K+ of vert is comical.
*18k of vertical gain (my bad!!)
Liv2Run wrote:
What is wrong with you people? Roche was totally transparent about his training strategy. He said there were better athletes than him running and that his edge needed to be training differently. It worked for a CR at Leadville. He tried anorher approach for Western States and it didn’t work out. Good for him trying. The level of resentment and vitriol expressed in these threads says a lot more about the commenters’ insecurities and need to claim some kind of expertise than about Roche. Better to have dared and failed than sit at home and never tried.
I don't really follow ultras much, so I know nothing about this guy [ "Johhny come lately?"].
But yeah, i'm a bit surprised that so many people on here seem to **passionately** hate him. Does someone care to sum up those reasons for me that might actually convince me he is deserving of the vitriol?
[I will fill in the first 2 reasons that this thread seems to reference the most-
1] is arrogant and talks too much/ too much of a self promoter.....?
2] is annoying with lots of training gimmicks....?
3] charges people for questionable training advice....?
I guess those are some decent reasons to not like him. 🤔
Again, not a big ultra fan, but setting a course record at leadville, sounds pretty impressive...
Okay, just read half an article about him in Outside
yeah sounds a little annoying.
But interesting that a guy who talks about "LOVE!" so much gets so much hate. Is it that he's a phony?
runhills wrote:
I totally agree with you. If he wanted to win Western States, he needed to be on the trails like every day putting in the big miles and vert. Doing speedwork on the track and on the treadmill as a training run for a 100-mile trail race with 25K+ of vert is comical.
“MotherFVCKER! That’s how we DO!”
-David, at 30:45 of this clip
Normal behavior
Kudos to Adam Pererman for finishing..
Slight contrast to David douche
Tyrone ReXXXing wrote:
Is it that he's a phony?
Yes, but you'd have to watch one of his YouTube videos to fully understand.
Also, his performance this weekend was too predictable. The haters literally all predicted that David would go out too hot and drop out, and that's exactly what played out.