The Pyllon Ultra Pod

Series 5 - Sprint Pods intro - we are finally back in the blocks

This is not a full episode, as we’ve decided to do things a little differently for the next series and beyond.

This is just an update on what we are planning to do and hopefully you’ll join us for this next series.

We will create a theme for the series, and we’ll do 5 x short and sharp episodes on a particular topic. So, it’ll either be me or James talking about something useful or challenging to you in less than 10 minutes. And we'll publish these weekly.

Each topic will build towards a longer conversation that we’ll have on week 6, where we have the chance to debate and expand on the topics we covered in the short sprint-pods. We hope that by distilling the content these snap-shots will provide some really useful thinking and actions in just 10 minutes or less of listening time.  

So, the first series we are going to talk about thought biases and hopefully illustrate potential positive outcomes with just a little bit more awareness and applying some effort and thinking.

Please give us a shout on social media if you’re enjoying these conversations. It helps a lot to keep us motivated do more. And it helps to shape the content plans for future episodes.

All episodes of the Pyllon Ultra pod are available now. Let us know what you think!

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

Making the Most of Winter Training with Debbie Consani

Happy New Year!

Time to get moving with your training. But how do you make the most of winter and set yourself up for a great Spring and Summer season?

We thought you’d maybe heard enough of just James and I, so we invited someone to join us for this discussion. Someone who is well versed in training and racing through winter - Debbie Consani.

Debbie is currently training for the Spine race which she’ll be tackling again for the second time, so knows a thing or two about maintaining momentum in training when it’s more difficult to get out there and train with bad weather, limited daylight and trails that aren’t half as fun as they are in summertime.

Debbie recently joined the Pyllon Coaching team too and has a few spaces for athletes!

Please give us a shout on social media if you’re enjoying these conversations. It helps a lot to keep us motivated do more. And it helps to shape the content plans for future episodes.

All episodes of the Pyllon Ultra pod are available now. Let us know what you think!

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

Debbie can be found @ultrarundmc

So You‘ve Set Yourself a Goal - What Next?

We continue where we left off in Episode 1 Series 4 of the Pyllon Ultra Pod. Listen to that first if you like. 

What do you do next when you know what you want to achieve?

How do you best manage the initial spark and burst of energy that always comes when you initially take on a new challenge - and how could you think about harnessing that energy to take you all the way, rather than get fed up at the first sign of trouble on your journey?

Paul and James discuss, and as often happens - it only raises more questions. Some real practical advice too if you are trying to get organised to start training for your next race. 

Please give us a shout on social media if you’re enjoying these conversations. It helps a lot to keep us motivated do more. And it helps to shape the content plans for future episodes.

All episodes of the Pyllon Ultra pod are available now. Let us know what you think!

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

Desire - An Obstacle or the Fuel You Need to Take on Any Goal?

We are kicking off Series 4 of the Pyllon Ultra Pod.

We’re back again. We have some new things to talk about, and maybe some older topics that we’ll revisit as things have moved on, situations have changed and we are different people than we were back in early 2020.

This last quarter of the year has been a busy time for both of us. It's been challenging on all fronts, but we've managed to find some time to plan some topics and get on the mics!

We thought we would kick off with a conversation about desires as we start to look ahead to a new season of racing and adventures. James thinks desires are necessary in order to be motivated enough to take action and I sit somewhere on the other side, arguing that desires can be more of an obstacle to success.

So, here’s the next episode of the Pyllon Ultra pod. Let us know what you think!

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

Pyllon Ultra SPECIAL: The 1,200 mile End2End Trail with Paul Giblin

Pyllon Ultra Podcast. An End2End Trail Special with Paul Giblin.

 

WE ARE BACK.

 

It has been too long. We know that and hope you do too. Paul and James get chatting 1-2-1 in this special episode on Paul's E2E trail endeavour. For those who don't know, Paul ran LEJOG and being Paul, he decided to increase the difficulty by doing it all on trail. 

 

That meant it came in at over 51,000m of climbing and nearly 400 miles longer than the traditional route. Take the hardest end to end route in the UK and make it tougher. 

 

Paul answers James's questions as they explore the aftermath, the planning and the overall experience. We get to hear about Paul's gratitude for those who joined him and crewed him. Paul reflects on the tough moments and the best parts too. 

 

This is the first time Paul has spoken about the experience and it is clear he is still processing much of the learning and outcomes. It is a fascinating listen. Wrap your head around the magnitude of this undertaking and listen to Paul tell you all about it. 

 

And, at the end you get to hear about the new coaching product coming from us at Pyllon Coaching, the new and exciting Pyllon TRAX. Check out http://www.pyllonultra.com/coaching for more details or contact us at the socials below. 

 

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @Pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

Pyllon Ultra SPECIAL: Reflecting on the first week of the End2End Trail

A special podcast this week. James chats to Paul about his first week on the end to end trail from the luxury of a Travelodge near Bristol. 

The end to end trail is a challenge to run from Lands End to John O'Groats. But in a twist from the usual fastest / straightest route, Paul has chosen to do it all on trail. Which adds 50% more distance and enough additional vert to fill a Himalayan mountain range. 

It's has been quite the week and we hear from Paul about landowners, long paths, nettles and the generosity of people in the running community. The scale of the challenge is becoming clear, and Paul talks about how he is approaching his days and the gratitude he feels for his crew mate. 

If you want to hear about nettles, hidden styles and the rising and falling of meandering trails, drop in. 

You can read more about the end to end trail here: http://www.pyllonultra.com/end2end-trail 

 

Pyllon Ultra: Is it wisdom or intelligence?

Regular listeners will know that we often steer an impulsive path on this podcast. It’s about running, by runners but for more than runners. And this week Paul and James got into a conversation about purpose, goals and motivation.

There was some deep digging done on questions such as, “did I choose this life?” and “Why I am doing this?”

Also always with the Pylon Ultra podcast we really want athletes and listeners to take time think about the learning we as hosts are going through alongside our listeners and in this podcast you will hear both Paul and James drop a couple of ‘a ha’ moments and realisation lands on how they feel about their journey to now.

They tackle the contradiction of winning and records against ego and identity. Are they in harmony, do they need to be? And what does a future look like where self, goals and ambition is wrapped up in the underlying theme of this episode; the distinction between self-awareness, intelligence and wisdom.

Be wise, listen to this podcast. It may just make you more intelligent. Or maybe not.

You can connect with the Pyllon Ultra team on twitter and instagram @pyllonultra or check out the website at www.pyllonultra.com 

 

Paul is on Twitter and instagram @Pyllon

James is on Twitter too, @james_stewart13 and on instagram as plain old @jamesstewart13

 

BONUS: Special Cape Wrath Edition - 4 Days of Freedom on UK's toughest trail

Straight outta lockdown Paul Giblin and Graham Connolly decided to take on the Cape Wrath trail. Their aim was simply to run it in under four days. If you don’t know what the Cape Wrath trail is like, it’s wild, barren and unmarked. As well as loose lines that can’t be called trail in the more common sense of the word, it is boggy, laden with river crossings and goes up and down many a hill and glen.

At close to 240 miles and 40,000 ft of climbing, it is a gruelling physical and mental undertaking.

In this special Pyllon Ultra Podcast, we change tact and instead of the usual conversation between James and Paul we bring you Graham, Paul and crew member Gavin Bussey together to talk about their reflections on the FKT.

There’s talk of ticks, awful feet, a fantastic feat, what it is like to crew, what they learned, why they did it, the planning (or lack of), doing the blog on the way up and how close it was and how they pushed to try and beat the 4 day target to set a fantastic new FKT on Scotland’s most brutal and remote trail.

This is an honest to goodness chat. This is not all sunshine and lollipops. There’s a massive sense of achievement but also a true level of reflection of the value and the why they did it, what comes next and how things have been since the four day meander across the trail.

It’s a stirring and brilliant conversation. Give it a listen.

You can catch the team on the socials as usual @pyllonultra, Paul @pyllon on insta and twitter, James is @james_stewart13 on Twitter, Graham is @grahamojoe and Gavin is @pseudo_henrix both at insta too. And, we’d heartily recommend you have a look at @ultrarunbob on Insta as he was crewing too and has some amazing videos and images of the trail and attempt.

Visit the website to find out more about Pyllon Coaching 

Do You Really Want What You Think You Want?

DOING THE INTERNAL WORK!

In the last episode of this series we talked at length about cognitive biases, how and why we might be conditioned without really being aware of it, and how these gaps in our awareness can hold us back.

So, in this episode we talk more about self awareness and how any kind of introspection may help or hinder our development. We already talked about how some of our beliefs in the external world are flawed so how can we be sure that what we think we want, is a route to happiness or at the very least in our own self interests?

As always,  we are not claiming to be experts in these fields - but we are willing and keen to share some views and debate the relevance and usefulness , and to learn from each other through some honest conversations and hopefully with some feedback and engagement from you the listener. Our aim as always is to make improvements where we need to - as we do in our running and with the athletes we coach and hopefully to trigger something in you to do the same.

Thanks for listening!

Please like, share and subscribe if you enjoy the show. And if you want to connect with us you can get Paul at his handle @pyllon on most social media outlets. James is @james_stewart13 on Twitter. And there's new Pyllon social media accounts @pyllonultra for the latest updates on Coaching, Racing, Events and Podcasts

Bias, Dissonance and Lumber in the Attic - striding towards self awareness

Now it is time for Paul and James to go deeper into the subjects they promised at the Series 3 kick-off. This one will be very different from series 2. There are no guests - it is just the two of them discussing a range of matters relating to the growth of self.

In this episode Paul is curious to explore cognitive dissonance and the Dunning-Kruger effect and how it can show up for athletes in training and life. He also introduces the idea of a listening gap to James which throws out some interesting ideas for both. And Paul reminds James of his sometimes impulsive behaviour too.

The aim here is learning and growth. So, neither will claim to be experts and neither will claim to know everything. The exploration of these subjects is to help you, the listener, live the ultra life by prompting thinking, reflections and hopefully some new questions and behaviours that help you get closer to your ambitions in life and running.

We are in the midst of organising our first Pyllon race - coming 24th April 2021. You can take part from anywhere. We hope you'll join us and test your limits in our unique race event. You can find out more at www.pyllonultra.com/exposure

Thanks for listening!

Please like, share and subscribe if you enjoy the show. And if you want to connect with us you can get Paul at his handle @pyllon on most social media outlets. James is @james_stewart13 on Twitter. And there's new Pyllon social media accounts @pyllonultra for the latest updates on Coaching, Racing, Events and Podcasts