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 solo episode of the Pyllon Ultra Pod, I explore the strange gap between what’s actually happening in training… and what it feels like is happening emotionally. Why confidence often lags behind fitness. Why uncertainty never fully disappears, even for experienced athletes. And why learning to tolerate that uncertainty might be one of the most important skills in endurance sport.

I also reflect on my own training, conversations with athletes, old experiences in Chamonix, and the subtle psychological effects of comparison culture and social media.

This episode is about trust.

And maybe most importantly:

How to keep moving forward even when you don’t fully trust where you are yet.

If this episode resonates and you’re interested in coaching, you can find out more at:

pyllonultra.com

Pyllon is about more than training plans. It’s about building something sustainable and meaningful around running and life.

I also write regularly on Substack:

pyllon.substack.com

And you can follow along here:

YouTube: youtube.com/pyllon

If you enjoyed the episode, subscribing or sharing it genuinely helps support what we’re building.

Thanks for listening.

“I just don’t have enough time.”

It’s something I hear constantly from runners.

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 professional-level training schedule inside a very non-professional reality.

This isn’t an episode about waking up earlier.

It’s about alignment.

About recognising the season you’re in.

I also share a few reflections from my own recent season, from steady progress in training to the uncertainty of building a new running project, and how showing up consistently, even without immediate feedback, is not that different from good training.

Why “not enough time” is often a misdiagnosis

The friction created when ambition and reality don’t align

The hidden stress of pretending you’re in a different life season

Why adapting your training is a sign of strength, not decline

How clarity and acceptance often lead to better consistency and performance

If this resonates, take a moment this week to ask yourself a different question:

Are you training for the life you actually have?

I’m currently working on a big running project that means a great deal to me. If you’re a brand, business, or individual who feels aligned with Pyllon and would be interested in supporting or getting involved, I’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch through the website.

If you’re interested in coaching, you can find all the details at:

I write regularly on Substack, sharing longer reflections on running, training, and living the ultra life:

You can also follow and subscribe here:

If you found this episode helpful, subscribing or sharing the podcast genuinely helps support the show.

Thanks for listening.

Easy training is meant to feel restorative.

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 why ease can feel undeserved even when we know it’s essential.

I also share personal reflections from my time training in Chamonix as a full-time athlete, and a moment on an easy run that turned into something else entirely, driven by ego and the need to prove commitment.

This episode isn’t about justifying easy days.

Why easy training can feel emotionally uncomfortable

How guilt creeps into rest and recovery

The influence of comparison and endurance culture

When effort becomes a measure of self-worth

Reframing easy training as a skill, not a weakness

If this episode resonates, take a moment on your next easy run to notice what comes up. Sometimes the most important work isn’t visible.

If you’re interested in coaching, you can find out more at:

I also write regularly on Substack, sharing longer-form reflections on running, training, and the wider ultra life:

You can follow along and subscribe here:

If you found this episode useful, subscribing or sharing the podcast really helps support the show.

Thanks for listening.

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.

Rebecca talks openly about uncertainty, patience, learning to trust the work, and how her relationship with running has evolved as the distances have grown longer. We discuss decision-making under fatigue, how she approaches fear and doubt, and what it means to commit to a long-term process rather than chasing short-term validation.

This is a conversation about becoming - as an athlete and as a person - and about the quiet inner work that sustains endurance over time.

Finding identity beyond results

Learning to sit with uncertainty before and during big races

The mental demands of very long formats

What a 200-mile race reveals when there’s nowhere to hide

Trusting process over outcomes

How coaching can create freedom, not dependence

Redefining success beyond podiums

Subscribe to the Pyllon Ultra Pod for thoughtful conversations about endurance, identity, and the inner life of training and racing.

Links

Substack: pyllon.substack.com

Instagram: @pyllon | @pyllonultra

YouTube: youtube.com/pyllon

Website: pyllonultra.com

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. From self-efficacy to community, identity to joy, we explore how these concepts shape how we train, how we lead, and how we show up in life.

It’s a conversation about real resilience, the value of play, and how success so often depends on what you believe about yourself when things aren’t going to plan.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, disconnected, or unsure where your motivation went, this one’s for you.

• Why confidence builds through small wins

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Interested in coaching in 2026? Spaces are limited. Reach out early:

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 edge of a new year and ask a gentler, more honest question:

What will you choose to remember?

A meditative reflection on time, running, attention, and the small choices that shape a life, one week at a time.

🎧 Pyllon Ultra Podcast

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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 he's learned from a career lived at scale, the importance of consistency during turbulent times, and why people and purpose matter more than pace.

They also explore Douglas’s personal path through grief, change and reinvention. That includes the launch of TrailCon, a new event designed to bring the trail running world together in a more open, collaborative way.

Whether you're building a business, a coaching practice or a life in motion, this one is full of ideas worth holding on to.

What building a billion dollar business teaches you about endurance

How running supported Douglas through grief, travel and transition

The story and vision behind TrailCon

The value of long term thinking in business, sport and life

What the trail world needs next

How purpose and people build resilience

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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 about Greenland, recovery from toe surgery, and what it means to move through wild places with curiosity and care.

Whether you love the science or just the trails, this one might make you look at your next run a little differently.

How the UK and Scotland were formed

What geology teaches us about time and perspective

Why knowledge of the land can deepen your experience

Thoughts on creativity, risk, and Arctic solitude

Bonus: toenail removal, and why it was totally worth it

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Thinking about coaching in 2026? Spaces are limited. Reach out early:

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 steps, quiet change, and the courage to begin.

Listen. Reflect. Begin.

See you out there.

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 with it over time. This is a reflective and practical conversation for anyone rethinking how they show up in sport, life and work - and how to bring more meaning to the process.

We only made it through the first five of ten planned themes - so look out for part four soon.

In this episode, Paul and James dig into the real drivers of long-term performance and engagement: joy, identity and agency.

It’s not about race results or training blocks: it’s about how we see ourselves, what we choose for ourselves, and how we make it all feel worth it.

They cover five key ideas:

Joy as a performance enhancer - Why joy improves consistency and psychological resilience

The neuroscience of fun - How novelty, play and reward reinforce habit and learning

Agency in training - Why taking ownership leads to better engagement and motivation

Identity as a hidden driver - How seeing yourself as a runner influences daily choices

Fun as protection against burnout - Why intentional variety and social connection matter

Throughout the episode, they draw from coaching experiences, athlete stories, and personal shifts, reflecting on how and why we stick with the things we care about.

This is for anyone trying to reconnect with the reason they started in the first place.

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