By the time he turned 40, former Stanford athlete, Rich Roll, was a bit of a wreck…
Since leaving school, the married father of four had struggled with addiction, mass job stress, he’d put on 50 pounds and was in horrible physical shape.
He decided something had to change. So, to celebrate his 40th birthday and his 10th anniversary in recovery, in 2006 he turned vegan. But that was just the beginning…
Reclaiming his health became Rich’s driving purpose. Over the next two years, he dropped 50 pounds, began to compete in ultra-endurance races and became the first vegan to not only complete in the legendary Ultraman race, but finish in the top 10. Since then, he’s ticked off a series of stunning ultra-fitness accomplishments and become a leading advocate for plant based nutrition for athletes and author of the fascinating book Finding Ultra.
In today’s episode, Rich and I go deep into his remarkable journey. We explore his earlier demons, his struggle to reclaim normalcy, health and vitality and his decision to explore a plant-based diet. We look at how that impacts his ability to perform at the highest levels of athletic competition.
We also get very real about his addiction and explore some tough questions, including whether his current deep dive into health is really his latest addiction…and whether that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing.
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With gratitude,
Jonathan