"I was kind of obsessed immediately. You put this thing down to its maximum four-minute pace, and it doesn't bounce at all. It doesn't make any noise. I'm scared to think about how my personal athletic journey might have unfolded because, for the longest time, I was just like, 'I'm just a coach, and the racing I do is secondary to that.' Then I started using a treadmill and found high-carb fueling, and all of a sudden, I'm so much better than I thought I could be."
"The treadmill is one of those training tools that I feel a little uncomfortable talking about because I still think it's one of the only secrets we have left, where our athletes have some advantage still because everybody hasn't committed to it in the same way we have."
David Roche, an accomplished coach and ultrarunner, transformed his athletic performance through consistent treadmill training. After breaking Matt Carpenter's 19-year-old Leadville 100 Mile course record by over 16 minutes in 2024, Roche invested in a Wahoo KICKR RUN treadmill. He subsequently won the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile and reset the Leadville record again in 2025 by 14 minutes. Roche credits treadmill training combined with high-carbohydrate fueling for exceeding his athletic expectations. He has integrated uphill treadmill work into programming for his coached athletes, including Hans Troyer, Anna Gibson, Tara Dower, and Jess McClain. Roche views quality treadmill training as an underutilized competitive advantage in ultrarunning, though he believes it has broader applications beyond elite athletes.
#treadmill-training #ultramarathon-performance #leadville-100-mile #coaching-methods #running-technology
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