Low mileage and speed: How to train like Leadville 100 winner David Roche
In August 2024, elite runner David Roche shocked the ultra world and crossed the finish line first at the Leadville 100 race. He also shattered Matt Carpenter’s storied 2005 Leadville 100 course record. Roche finished in 15:26:34, while Carpenter had finished in 15:42. Roche’s win and time caught people off guard because it was his first go at the distance, even though he has a long career in the ultrarunning by doing 50Ks and 50 milers.
Even more surprising, though, was Roche’s approach to training for the 100-mile race: 10 hours a week, versus that of most of his competitors who typically train 25-plus hours per week.
Roche also wears many other hats: coach to other runners, host with his wife, Megan, on the podcast Some Work All Play, and father to a toddler. Like many everyday runners, Roche, 36, must catch his training where he can, which means he must make the most of it. “In the process of going through life and doing what I can, I realized that this is also what worked best for me,” Roche tells Runner’s World. “Life is training, too, and ‘life miles’ are not accounted for enough in what leads to adaptation.”
If you can relate to this struggle, you will be reassured to know that by following some key principles, you can still reach finish lines and hit lofty goals.
“There are many ways to get to your end goal,” Lara Rogers, coach for the Under Armour Mission Run Team tells Runner’s World. “What works for one person might not work for another. I’ve coached plenty of runners who thrive on lower volume.”
How to train like David Roche
David and Megan Roche put extensive research into their training, as well as that of their clients. Their numerous accomplishments validate their knowledge. David Roche is the 2014 USATF Trail Runner of the Year at the sub-ultra distance, and a two-time national champion and three-time member of Team USA in Duathlon. Megan Roche is the 2016 USATF Trail Runner of the Year at the ultra and sub-ultra distances. She is a five-time national champion, a North American Mountain Running Champion, and a six-time member of Team USA. She graduated with honours from Duke with a degree in neuroscience and received her M.D. from Stanford Medical School. At Stanford, she also earned a Ph.D. in epidemiology, focused on female athlete health and performance research. In 2024, she launched Huzzah, sharing female athlete performance science.
In the episode “What Just Happened” of their podcast, they break down all the science that went into preparing David Roche for—and helping him get through—this extraordinary accomplishment. As they explain in the intro to their debriefing, a lot has changed in training and performance since 2005 when Carpenter broke his record, including advancements in fueling, shoes, and altitude science.
Here are three keys to making the most of your training, no matter how much time you have in your weekly schedule.
1. Aim for quality miles
If you’re dialling back to just a few runs each week, what’s key is making the most of those miles. “Typically, that would look like one long run, and two sessions that are a bit faster,” says Rogers. “What’s most important is that you’re consistent, week after week.”
According to Roche, there are too many performance variables in ultras to be sure of what intervention leads to what outcome, so training simply to run farther may not be the best strategy. “The strongest predictive variable of ultra performances in the few studies on the subject is velocity at VO2 max,” Roche explains. “So even though I’m training for an event that lasts all day, I want to make sure that I develop my pure speed and running economy all the way to race day. When there are hundreds of variables we can’t control, VO2 might be one variable that has an outsized impact on all-day endurance performance given how it is related to performance at lower effort levels, too.”
According to University of California Health, VO2 max is an important standard for measuring aerobic fitness. The number describes “the maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during incremental exercise.” In essence, the higher your VO2 max, the better your athletic performance, although other factors, such as sustainable lactate threshold, motivation, and training are important factors in the process.
Therefore, while Roche doesn’t put in the mega miles of his competitors, he does keep speed and other run styles in his routine. “I’ll incorporate strides three or four times a week, usually up hills, and sometimes on flats to keep my nervous system responding,” he explains. “I’ll also do a fartlek workout, usually doing 60- or 90-second intervals. My goal was to come into Leadville as fast as possible in a 5K sense.”
➡ It Works for Marathons, Too
Similarly, consistency, not volume, has worked for 53-year-old Lili Barouch, a Maryland-based cardiologist and parent. Barouch began running in 2006 for fitness, but soon caught the bug to race, working her way up to the marathon by 2009. She eventually qualified for Boston by running just three days a week. “I have rheumatoid arthritis, so I’ve always been careful about my mileage,” she explains. “Early on, I went through several injuries, and I tied them to running consecutive days—it just didn’t work for me.”
Through some trial and error, Barouch devised a “less is more” plan that worked for her. During three-days-a-week marathon training, that means a peak period of one long run that never exceeds 50 percent of her weekly mileage, and two others in the range of about seven and nine miles.
“When I was working toward my BQ, I’d pick one day to run some tempo, and one day for some speed work or hill repeats,” Barouch explains. She also includes step-back weeks. Every fourth week or so, she cuts her overall volume by 25 percent to give her body a break from her higher mileage weeks.
Roche kept long runs in the equation, too, but dialed those back from the typical ultra-training mileage. “I didn’t go beyond 20 very often,” he says. “When I did, it was with purpose.”
To that end, Roche focused a lot on downhills. “The primary adaptation that is unique to long ultras with vert (altitude) is the demand of eccentric muscle contractions from downhills,” he explains. “On my key long runs, I emphasised doing downhills that are as steep as the steepest I’d see on race day at faster paces than I’d do them on race day. At first, I’d be sore for five days from these runs, as the delayed-onset muscle soreness was extreme and my blood was full of creatine kinase from muscle breakdown. But the “repeated bout effect” from studies indicates that it only takes a few of these steep downhill stimuli to adapt, so I wanted to harness that without overdoing stress on my body.”
2. Cross-Train and Strength Train
Rogers says both cross-training and strength training are key to success, especially if you work a desk job and spend a good deal of time sitting. “Go through a basic core routine that focuses on your hips and glutes a couple times a week,” she recommends.
In fact, one of the athletes Rogers coaches placed third at NCAA nationals this year on low mileage. “She supplemented with swimming and beat people running three times as much as her,” Rogers explains.
Lili Barouch, 53, also makes cross-training and strength training part of her regimen for marathon training on lower total mileage. “I also do triathlons, so I’m naturally getting into the pool or on my bike every week,” she explains. “But I also make sure I’m strength training twice a week.” One of these sessions is an hour long, while the other is usually around 30 minutes.
3. Focus on Supplementary “Training,” Too
The basics count, too. From good nutrition and hydration, to rest and easy movement to encourage recovery, consider these “extras” as essentials. “I always fuel my training, which matters for performance,” says Roche.
To that point, while Roche didn’t always put in the long miles when he trained, he did study the science for his fuelling technique. He details his “slurping” technique of up to 120 grams of carbs (not to mention caffeine intake) in this Instagram post.
Rogers points out the value in these smaller details. “You can spend all the time and money you want on fancy recovery tools, but they will deliver little benefit,” she says. “If you’re not covering the basics, it doesn’t matter.” The basics, according to Rogers, are warmups, cooldowns, nutrition, and recovery.
Roche pays attention to whether he’s recovering from his efforts and if not, he dials back his training even more. “I use the midnight pee test,” he says. “If I wake up and limp to the bathroom like a 97-year-old, I’m playing the numbers game wrong.”
By putting all the pieces together, your minimalist training can add up to maximum results—look no farther than Roche to see that proof. “Get creative in the context of your life,” he says. “What works for me might not for someone else, but everyone has some unique way to make the training work.”
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