The Pyllon Ultra Pod

Winning is the part everyone sees. The pressure beforehand, the difficult decisions, the quiet conversations between crew members, the volunteers standing in the rain, and the moments when an athlete is wondering whether they can keep going are much easier to miss. After spending the weekend crewing for Gus as he defended his West Highland Way Race title, Paul and John sat down to compare notes. T...

There are some things in life that we carry alone. Not because we don't have supportive friends or family, but because nobody else can quite carry the weight of something that matters deeply to us. In this solo episode, I explore the quieter side of commitment. The emotional cost of caring deeply about a race, a business, a creative project, or simply the person we're trying to become. Drawing on...

In this episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, Paul sits down with Pyllon coach John Connolly for a more informal conversation about training, racing and the things that often sit beneath the surface for endurance athletes. This is not a polished lecture or a neat list of training tips. It is more of a coach-to-coach conversation about what we notice in athletes, what people often struggle with, and how...

Show Notes At this point in the season, a lot of runners start to question themselves. Races are getting closer. Training suddenly feels more exposed. Sessions that felt perfectly normal in winter now feel loaded with meaning. A flat run becomes evidence that something is wrong. A bad session suddenly feels significant. And yet, objectively, many runners are actually in a very good place. In this...

“I just don’t have enough time.” It’s something I hear constantly from runners. From parents. From professionals. From people trying to hold a lot together. But what if time isn’t the real problem? In this solo episode, I explore a pattern I see again and again in the athletes I coach. The tension that builds when ambition doesn’t match the season of life you’re in. The stress of trying to run a p...

Easy training is meant to feel restorative. So why does it so often leave us feeling uneasy? In this solo episode, I explore a feeling many runners carry quietly: guilt when training feels easy. The sense that if a run doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t quite count. That we haven’t earned it. We unpack where that belief comes from, how endurance culture and comparison shape our relationship with effort, and...

Episode Description In this episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, Paul sits down with Rebecca Hormann for a conversation that goes beyond results and race reports. Rebecca had a remarkable year in 2025. A win at the West Highland Way Race. A recent victory over 200 miles in Portugal. But this conversation isn’t about splits, podiums, or outcomes. Instead, it explores what happens underneath performance...

In this final part of our series with James Stewart, we return to the deeper questions that sit beneath every long run, every hard session, and every season of training: how do we stay connected to what matters, and how do we keep going when things get tough? This episode picks up where the last one left off - covering points six to ten from our list of ideas that influence long-term performance....

There are only 52 weeks in a year. In this quiet, reflective solo episode, I explore what that really means. Not in terms of productivity, discipline, or becoming a better version of yourself, but in how we live inside our weeks. How many pass unnoticed. How many blur together. How often we tell ourselves we will get to the things that matter later. This episode is an invitation to pause at the ed...

In this episode of People Make Pyllon, Paul speaks with Douglas Emslie,  a runner, entrepreneur and long-time coaching client who spent over 25 years building a global events business before selling it for over $1 billion. But this conversation is about more than business. It's about what it takes to build something that lasts, and how running can reflect that process. Douglas shares the lessons h...

In this episode of People Make Pyllon, Paul speaks with Alex Copley - a passionate runner and geologist who helps us see the ground beneath our feet in an entirely new way. From tectonic collisions to ancient mountain belts, Alex explains how the UK was shaped over hundreds of millions of years, and why understanding that history can change the way we run through the land today. They also talk abo...

What if the life you imagine - the one with more freedom, more courage, more meaning isn’t somewhere else, but just waiting beneath the surface of the one you already live? This short reflection invites you to pause, breathe, and consider what your “second life” might look like… and how much of it you could begin living now. It’s not a story about running, but it carries the same heartbeat - small...

In the third instalment of our People Make Pyllon series with James Stewart, we explore the deeper forces that drive motivation, consistency and performance - and why fun, identity, and agency are often overlooked in training and coaching. We talk about joy as a performance enhancer, the neuroscience of fun, and how ownership and self-identity play a crucial role in how we train, recover and stick...

Show Notes: In this follow-up episode of People Make Pyllon, Paul reconnects with long-time athlete and coach James Stewart for another rich and honest conversation. From managing global travel and family life to balancing doctoral study, work, training and writing, James brings his usual clarity and candor to the table. They dive into how he structures his day, why routine matters more than motiv...

In this episode, Paul reconnects with long-time Pyllon athlete, coach and former podcast co-host James Stewart for the first conversation in a new series, People Make Pyllon - where we explore the lives, work and wider stories of runners in the Pyllon community. James has represented Great Britain, broken records, and worked at the sharp end of competitive ultrarunning, but this conversation is le...

In this solo episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, Paul takes a slow, reflective journey into the deeper layers of endurance — not as sport, but as a human experience. Building on recent conversations with Jeev, Gus, and Alan, and echoing themes from his latest Substack essay “When the Race Strips Us Back,” this episode explores the emotional costs of going all in, the relationship between mind and bod...

In this special bonus episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, Paul speaks with Pyllon athlete Alan Hewitt, fresh from completing the gruelling Summer Spine Race — a 268-mile journey up the Pennine Way. But this isn’t just a race recap. Together, they explore what it means to commit fully, to endure the dark miles, and to discover a version of yourself you didn’t know existed. Alan opens up about foot pai...

Show Notes: In this bonus episode, we sit down with Pyllon athlete Gus Irvine, who just won the 2025 West Highland Way Race — one of the most iconic ultramarathons in the UK. But this conversation isn’t just about race day. It’s about what led there. Gus opens up about the years of quiet, committed training that made this win possible. We talk about his emotional relationship with running, the str...

Welcome back to the Pyllon Ultra Pod — and to a new direction for the show. In this episode, we explore the emotional side of endurance. Why do ultra races move us to tears? What do they unlock deep inside that other pursuits can’t reach? And how does that emotional depth become part of why we keep coming back? Our guest is Jeevendra, an ultra runner, thinker, and long-time Pyllon athlete with a d...

Welcome back to the Pyllon Ultra Pod. In this episode, we dive deep into one of the most curious and compelling corners of ultra endurance: the 24-hour track race. Joining Paul today are two people with intimate knowledge of this format. Grant MacDonald, a former GB international and coach at Pyllon, was due to compete at Crawley this year before injury struck — instead, he stepped into the crew r...

Welcome back to the Pyllon Ultra Pod. In this short episode, we explore a tension many athletes and coaches feel but rarely voice: why does branding and polished packaging often outshine hard-won experience in today’s coaching world? I reflect on what real coaching value looks like — not the spreadsheets or the slogans, but the deep, often unseen work of understanding athletes, recognising pattern...

In this deeply honest episode of the Pyllon Ultra podcast, we’re joined by Pyllon coach John Connolly and long-time athlete Rachel Normand — a fierce competitor, thoughtful human, and now, a mother expecting her second child. We talk openly about what it means to navigate training, identity, and life as a female athlete, especially during and after pregnancy. Topics include: What training looks li...

✍️ Show Notes (Description): Most people don’t think of ultra-running as creative. It’s numbers. It’s structure. It’s repetition. But the best runners — the ones who stay in it for the long haul — often aren’t just tough. They’re imaginative. Flexible. Quietly inventive. In this episode, I explore why creativity is a powerful tool in training, racing, and staying in the game when things don’t go t...

In this special episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, I sit down with Pyllon coach John Connolly and long-time creative collaborator (and pal) Gavin Bussey, just ahead of the release of A Run Through Darkness — the film documenting my 3,000km run across New Zealand. We talk about the discomfort of putting something so personal out into the world, the role of Alice’s energy in keeping the whole thing mo...

What happens after the race is done, the film is released, or the effort is over? In this solo reflection, Paul explores the quiet space between doing the work and discovering what it meant. Drawing from his own experience at the Yukon Arctic Ultra — and a story from Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert — this episode is about stillness, identity, and trusting the process, even when the result isn’t cle...