David Roche > Quotes

“I had to learn slowly to open the door just a crack to let love in, maybe just a few seconds at a time. We all do. ”
― David Roche

“A process-driven running life is the first step to being a happy runner long term. Because you are enough, every day, no matter what.”
― David Roche, The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer

“Independent of injury risk, easy running is indispensable for long-term speed development. That seems counterintuitive. But if running training were an episode of MTV Cribs, when they got to the room with easy running, you’d say “This is where the magic happens” as you winked at the camera. Easy running enhances capillary development and aerobic enzyme activity—introduce an anaerobic stimulus to the mix, and it all gets mucked up. It also increases your running economy, reducing the amount of energy it takes to go a given pace.”
― David Roche, The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer

“It all gets back to how running progression happens through a series of aerobic, neuromuscular, and musculoskeletal adaptations that build on each other for years and decades. Aerobically, the body improves oxygen processing capacity by increasing the number of capillaries to carry blood to working muscles, decreasing the amount of oxygen those muscles need in the first place, and turning fuel into energy more efficiently. Essentially, the gas mileage goes up while the engine gets bigger, turning a Kia into a Tesla. On the neuromuscular front, the brain gets better at transmitting signals to the body to perform complex movement patterns, decreasing ground contact time, making faster cadences feel easier, and improving how the nervous system operates. Just like you learn to play the piano or dance, you learn to run efficiently.”
― David Roche, The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer