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In this episode we sit down with South Coast ultra runner Simon Withers, one of the rising stars of the UK ultra running scene.
Fresh from a gritty 7th place finish at the South Downs Way 100, Simon reflects on racing one of the UK's most competitive 100-mile ultras, sharing his pacing strategy, nutrition, mindset, and what it takes to perform over such a long day on the trails.
We also discuss his outstanding recent results, including 3rd place at the Arc of Attrition 2025 and 2nd place at the Arc of Attrition 2026, and how his performances have continued to improve year after year.
Along the way, Simon shares lessons learned from years of ultra running, the mistakes that have shaped him as an athlete, what keeps him motivated to keep returning to the start line, and some of the highs, lows and failures that every ultra runner can relate to.
Plus, we put Simon through our regular features: icebreakers, Truth or Lie, and the quickfire round.
Whether you're training for your first ultra marathon, tackling a 100 miler, or simply love trail running, this episode is packed with practical advice and honest insights from one of the South's toughest endurance athletes.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
Sarah finished 5th female at Mozart 100 by UTMB — a 120km mountain ultra in the Austrian Alps with long climbs, technical descents and a strong international field.
In this episode we break down the whole experience:
race week preparation and kit decisions
managing training around work and family life
preparing for Alpine races while living on the South Downs
how the climbs and descents compared to UK race
pacing, fuelling and race strategy
where the race got difficult
and what a result like this means only three years into ultra running
Recorded 36 hours after the finish, while everything was still fresh.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
This week on Trails, Tales & Fails, Max and Rob dive into a more honest conversation around ultra running, routines, streaks, escapism, addiction, and why endurance sport can sometimes become far more than “just running.”
Why do runners become obsessed with structure?
Why do 4am alarms, endless training blocks, and planning life around races somehow start to feel normal?
And where’s the line between discipline, coping mechanism, identity, and unhealthy obsession?
This isn’t a clinical conversation and we’re definitely not pretending to be experts — it’s simply an open discussion based on lived experience, ultra running culture, alcohol, mental health, validation, and the role running can sometimes play in helping people switch off, process stress, or escape life for a while.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
In this ep, Max, Sarah and Rob are joined by Karla Borland — a runner whose results over the last 12 months have been steadily climbing, putting her firmly on the trajectory to becoming one of the standout performers in UK ultra running.
In that time, Karla has put together some seriously impressive performances:
Thames Path is a unique kind of brutal — flat, fast, and relentless. There’s nowhere to hide. It becomes less about surviving the terrain, and more about holding pace, managing efficiency, and staying locked in for the long haul.
In this episode, we get into:
And of course, we’ve got our usual mix of celeb pacer, truth-or-lie, and a quickfire round to finish.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
Anxiety in running is far more common than most people admit — and when we asked you about it on Instagram, the response was big.
In this episode, it’s just us — no guest — having a proper, honest conversation about the different types of anxiety runners experience. From imposter syndrome and fear of injury, to getting lost mid-race, toilet disasters and Strava anxiety.
We break it all down — what these anxieties actually look like, why they show up, and how we deal with them both as runners and from a coaching perspective. Some of it’s serious, some of it’s surprisingly funny, but all of it is real when you’re in the moment.
We also touch briefly on the recent UTMB Index changes and what they might (or might not) mean for everyday runners.
If you’ve ever stood on a start line questioning yourself, overthought a long run, or worried about something going wrong… this one will probably resonate.
If it does, send it to someone who might need to hear it.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
What happens when you combine young kids, an international move, and one of the toughest endurance races on the planet?
In this episode, Max and Sarah were joined by Josie Kaufmann and Michael Canil — a husband and wife duo who recently relocated from Australia to rural France and took on the legendary Marathon des Sables.
Often called the “toughest footrace on Earth,” MDS is a self-sufficient, multi-stage ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert — testing not just physical endurance, but planning, resilience, and mindset.
But this episode goes far beyond the race itself.
We dive into:
Josie is coached by Max, which adds an extra layer to the conversation as we unpack how training translated into the reality of the Sahara.
With Michael coming from a strong Ironman background and Josie stepping into her first major endurance event, this is a story of two very different journeys meeting at the same start line.
Expect honest reflections, a few laughs, and plenty of insight into resilience, pacing, and mindset when things get seriously tough.
Plus, we’ve got our usual mix of icebreakers, truth-or-lie, and a quickfire round to finish.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
When a race disappears… do you still show up?
In this episode, we sit down with ultra runner Kirsty Taylor to unpack one of the most unique and unpredictable race experiences you’ll hear this year.
Kirsty recently took on the Sea to Sea — a brutal 300km challenge — but this wasn’t quite the experience she signed up for. Just weeks before the start, Ourea Events ceased trading, throwing plans into chaos and leaving runners facing a completely different reality. What followed was a stripped-back event delivered under Centurion, where Kirsty took on the route fully self-supported, with no crew, no aid station or drop bag, and limited infrastructure.
We dive into what that actually looked like on the ground:
We also explore Kirsty’s journey into ultra running — from 100k and 100 mile races to stepping up into the unknown of 300km — and what she’s learned about resilience, preparation, and decision-making when you’re deep in it and on your own.
As always, expect a mix of:
Honest storytelling
Icebreakers
Truth or Lie
Quickfire questions
If you’ve ever wondered what it really takes to go self-supported — or how you respond when a race doesn’t go to plan — this one’s for you.
Coaching enquiries
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by:
Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15
Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
Trailskin get 20% off with TTFS_20
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
This episode is about the people you don’t always see… but who make everything possible.
We’re joined by Louise Fraser — a long-time volunteer and familiar face in the Centurion Running community. If you’ve ever run a Centurion race, chances are she’s been there at an aid station — handing you a cup of Coke, filling flasks, offering a bit of calm, and delivering exactly the words you needed at the right moment.
We dive into:
Plus our usual mix of icebreakers, truth-or-lie, and a volunteer-themed quickfire round.
This one’s about community, perspective, and the moments that keep people moving when it matters most.
Support the show via Patreon and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15 — and by Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
For coaching enquiries.
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
This week we’re joined by Dutch ultra runner Noor Van der Veen, who has taken on some of the most demanding races on the planet — including Tor des Géants, Arc of Attrition 100 ), UTMB, and a full FKT of the Pyrenees. Most recently, she stepped up to the start line of the legendary Barkley Marathons.
We dive into her background, her mindset, and what it really takes to tackle extreme endurance challenges. Plus — our usual icebreakers and a quickfire round to finish.
This episode is supported by Runr — a UK-based running brand built by runners, for runners.
Runr started in 2016 with a simple idea: helping runners recognise runners. That quiet nod on a cold morning. That shared understanding at mile 18.
They create lightweight, sweat-wicking technical hats designed to stay secure mile after mile — and their race number magnets mean no more safety pins, no holes in your favourite race tee, and no interference with timing chips.
🎉 We’re also running a giveaway over on Instagram — you can win a Runr technical hat plus a set of race magnets. Head to our Instagram and follow the instructions to enter.
Love running? Wear Runr.
Support the show via Patroen and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15 — and by Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
For coaching enquiries.
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
This week on Trails, Tales & Fails, we’re joined by Ben Potts — ultra runner, friend, and fresh off an incredible 12th-place finish at the Full Spine.
The Full Spine is one of the toughest endurance races on the planet: 268 miles/431km, 10,700m+ of elevation, winter conditions, sleep deprivation, and relentless forward motion. Ben takes us inside the race — how he prepared, how he managed fatigue over multiple days, the mental battles that matter most, and what events like the Spine and Dragon’s Back teach you about yourself when you’re pushed to the edge.
We talk training, decision-making under extreme fatigue, lessons learned from multi-day ultras, and what draws runners back to these brutal challenges again and again.
As always, we finish with our usual icebreakers, truth-or-lie, and a quickfire round.
Follow the podcast, leave a review if you enjoy it, and join the Trails, Tales & Fails Strava club — link in the show notes.
We’re giving away a RealMeal Endurance Pack on Instagram — running until 22nd February. Head to our Instagram page and check out the giveaway post to enter.
Support the show via Patroen and buy us a coffee.
We’re proud to be supported by Protein Rebel — get 15% off with code TTF15 — and by Beta Outdoor Sports, where you can get 10% off BV Sports compression and apparel, plus 10% off Näak Nutrition products to fuel your adventures using TTF10.
For coaching enquiries.
Don’t forget to click here to join our Strava club to connect with fellow trail lovers and celebrate your own achievements.
👉 Join our Trails, Tales, and Fails Facebook Community to continue the conversation and connect with fellow trail and ultra runners.
If you enjoy the episode, please leave us a rating and share it with your running buddies.
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