What is Pyllon ultra coaching?

ULTRA is a bespoke, personal, and in-depth run coaching experience for athletes who are focused on improving their performance in ultra distance races. We are passionate about helping athletes to run longer and to take on bigger and bolder challenges - it’s what we do as athletes.

At Pyllon we use our extensive experience and knowledge of coaching and racing to create principle-led training plans that will work for you - whatever your goal or motivation.

You’ll be supported on this journey by one of our experienced ULTRA coaches who will help you to improve your performances and to find growth through all of your efforts in training and racing. You’ll have a partner to support your running journey instead of trying to do your best alone.

How does it work?

We aim to build strong relationships with our athletes, that’s what makes our coaching so successful. It means we better understand your background, what’s important to you and any restrictions you have in terms of training availability. We build bespoke plans that work for you! Training that will help you reach your goals (and beyond).

You’ll receive a tailored training plan developed every week with regular coach interactions. Training is structured around your schedule; it’s adapted to the stresses and changes of your everyday life - week by week.

When ultra running has become a significant part of your life, this option will help you get the greatest return on every minute of training you do - physical, mental, and emotional. We work this way with athletes looking to take the next step in their development, as well as experienced racers who want to start challenging themselves more and winning.

You can see your daily session details, coach notes and feedback directly from our user-friendly training platform ‘Training Peaks’ which can be accessed from any connected device.

Here’s a summary of what you can expect as a Pyllon ULTRA athlete:

• Consultation with your Coach to establish goals, discuss training history and to understand your short and long-term training priorities

• Weekly or fortnightly training plan tailored to you

• Regular feedback on your completed training

• Focus notes for each new training block

• Access to your plans through Training Peaks (also available on iOS and Android apps)

• Weekly insight email from Pyllon

• Chance to join a positive, supportive and motivating community of ultra runners

Why Pyllon?

At Pyllon Coaching we believe that through a structured training plan with the benefit of having experienced many of the best and toughest races in the world, we can help athletes achieve their running ambitions.

We all have individual goals and targets and our coaching is designed with your desired outcomes in mind. Our specific and tailored training approach is based on our understanding of athlete ambitions and experience, the time available to commit to training and the many other demands of day-to-day life. Optimal training cannot be achieved simply by following one of the many available generic plans - priorities change and life has a habit of throwing up challenges, so we review workload, performance and recovery data, to ensure our athletes reach the start-line better-prepared for their event.

We love running. It’s done so much for us and shaped our lives in ways we never expected. Our aim is to help our athletes live better and more fulfilling lives through consistent progress and by finding success in their running. As athletes we’ve spent years learning from our successes and our mistakes. We’ve worked with all types of athletes - people new to the sport and those already racing for their country. From people with very limited available training time to full-time elite athletes, so we’ve experienced most of the pitfalls and employed the best strategies to ensure our athletes don’t have to worry about losing time, and wasting effort.

Who is the Coaching Team?

At Pyllon we have an experienced team of coaches, and we stay connected to ensure learnings are shared and we continually improve as a team. Paul Giblin is Head Coach and specialises in ultra distance events as a coach and professional athlete. He set up Pyllon Coaching in 2014 and continues to drive the overall training approach. He believes that a healthy athlete is a happy athlete - and that should be the founding principles of any successful training programme.

Between us we’ve worked with hundreds of athletes, training for some of the biggest, boldest, weirdest, hottest, longest and fastest races in the world.

Our Head Coach is Paul Giblin. Paul is a professional athlete and has raced all over the world, from the heat of the Canyons at Western States 100, to the high alpine trails of UTMB. Paul’s thirst for adventure has also seen him set records on the Cape Wrath Trail and he recently completed an End to End Trail in 29 days (1,265 miles across the UK).

James Stewart is a Senior Coach at Pyllon. James is an incredible athlete and motivator. He’s used to leading teams (in his professional life) and has spent a number of years playing his part in high-performing, medal winning GB 24-hr track teams. James also knows how to train for and race on trails, with WHW, Glenmore and Rocky Raccoon wins under his belt. Doesn’t shy away from holding up that accountability mirror to his athletes.

Grant MacDonald is fresh to our ULTRA coaching team. Grant brings over 10 years of ultra running experience and has been training with Pyllon since 2016. Grant has broad experience in road, trail and mountain ultras and has represented Scotland and Great Britain at 100km and 24hr level. Grant is passionate about the value coaching has in pushing athletes to fulfil their potential.

John Connolly is one fast runner. He loves the mountains and is passionate and motivated by the incredible trails, mountains and ridges on his doorstep in Scotland. He’s raced some of the UK’s biggest ultras as well as some big European mountain races. He has a unique insight on the sport having raced and crewed for Paul at a number of Ultra Trail World Tour events. He’s a coach who knows how to motivate, and will tell his athletes straight if they’re straying from their goals.

If you think Pyllon ULTRA coaching might be right for you, contact us for further details and prices. If you think you need a less involved coaching programme Pyllon MONTHLY might be a better option for you.

What Does it Cost?

Prices start from £130 pcm.

LOCATION
Currently coaching athletes across 5 continents.

PREFERRED ATHLETE LEVELS
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Professional

TERRAIN
Trail, Road, Mountain and Desert

DISTANCES
50K - 1,000 miles

LANGUAGES
English

ATHLETE REQUIREMENTS
Shoes, GPS watch and some passion is all we require!