How to prepare for your first Backyard Ultra

With the Backyard Ultra World Team Championships 2026 nearly upon us, I thought’d I’d put together a five tips on how to prepare for your first backyard ultra – I am pretty sure that the running community is going to go in to a backyard ultra frenzy and people will want to be trying the format and races will be filling up after hopefully seeing a new backyard ultra world record next week!

A lot of athletes who come to me for coaching have done so because they have booked in their first backyard ultra and are looking for support during their training from an experienced backyard ultra athlete (PB 50 yards, England team, at large 2025 – 2026, UK team reserve).

Train the mind, not just the body

I’ve been to a few backyard ultras now and have seen hundreds of DNFs (as is the nature of the game). Some are due to injury, some are due to a time out. But the bulk? The mind is unwilling to go on. I know. I have been there myself. And I’ll tell you a little secret… some of those time outs aren’t even really a time out. The mind gives up somewhere, out there on the yard, the runner becomes slower and slower, they think they won’t make it, they become slower again and then they time out. Again I know this too, from personal experience! 

I’ve also learnt the art of mindset, I coach it too. There are so many simple things you can do to practise a strong mindset when you prepare for your first backyard ultra, for your mind to be resilient and for you to be able to fight away any demons that come. Learn to reframe situations, if something is going badly, find humour in it, find the light, turn it around and put a positive spin on it.

Think about someone going to the for the very first time and immediately trying to lift a 100kg weight… they cold’t do it. But if they practice on a regular basis they will reach that goal. Now think of our minds, fancy turning up at a backyard ultra and not mentally preparing for it, it’s a lot to be able to cope with when you’re not mindset ready.

Practise your nutrition

Nutrition is something I encourage my athletes to train from the start. I test them to work out how much fluid and how much sodium they should be taking on board every hour. We work out what nutrition works for them and how much and how often they should be eating. If you under-fuel on a backyard ultra, it will catch up on you.

Practice eating during your training runs, your body needs to know how to be able to eat and run without running into gut problems when you are doing your first backyard ultra. Start small and then build up, play around with different food types and take a note of whats in your food, pay particular attention to carbohydrates (more is good), fat and fibre (lower is better) and sodium.

Do a BYU simulation during training

I remember my first backyard ultra simulation of 12 yards from my front door. It was an amazing experience, and a fantastic dress rehearsal. Running your own backyard ultra from your house means you can practise so much: the kit you will wear, the sock shoe combination, the kit you will have to hand, your pacing (you’ll get an idea of your average yard times), how often you need to go to the toilet, how you will manage your body temperature on the down time, what and when you will eat, learning a run walk routine, resting and sleeping, and you’ll begin to get an insight into what happens to your mind. Where does it wander to? Are there any negative thoughts? You can invite friends to join you for some of the yards where no doubt you’ll talk tactics and strategies! 

When I plan for my athletes first BYU simulation, it’s such an exciting time as we get to see their training coming together and we are able to learn so much, what we need to work on, their strengths and their weaknesses. It’s great if you can do your BYU sim and then discuss it through with someone.

Plan your camp admin

I’ve been crewed and crewed. The first time I crewed at backyard ultra was for Kevin Munt who achieved an age category victory at Suffolk BYU. I’ll learned so much from the experience. I’ll be crewing the UK team at the Backyard Ultra World Team Championships where I am sure I will learn even more! I love looking around people’s crew areas and seeing their set up. There is no right or wrong way, it’s whatever works for you and your crew (if you have crew!). Organisation is key though, knowing where everything is will be vital on your first backyard ultra, make sure you prepare in advance!

Popular set ups include:

• kit in labeled shoe racks
• compartmentalised boxes
• tables with everything laid out either as is, in boxes or in clear bags
• clothes hung up and easy to grab
• yard in tray and out trays
• labelled drawers
• gravity chair
• bed
• lighting (for overnight)
• cool box
• generator for charging

Think about what to do when the wheels start falling off

We’ve all been there, a known hot spot starts making itself heard, a stomach ache, feeling sick, feeling tired, cold hands or feeling hot and clammy. Before you arrive at your first backyard ultra, go through all your known issues and write down how you deal with them, this is something you or your crew can then refer to during the race to get that problem solved.

Ask questions to the UK team, crew and spectators

I’m excited to be at the backyard ultra world championship for the duration next week as many of my friends are on the team, they will all be looking to break a backyard ultra record, whether it’s their own PB, an age category record, national, UK or even world record, how lucky I will be to have a front row seat to it all!

As I will be there in person, I will do my best to answer questions from the team members, tehir crew and teh spectaors, if you’d like to send in a question then please fill out this Google Form.

Coaching opportunities to prepare for your first backyard ultra

If you are interested in entering your first backyard ultra then get in touch! As a specialist backyard ultra coach, I progress athletes of all abilities to backyard ultra. Training plans with me cover training, nutrition, hydration, mindset, sleep, camp admin, crew organisation and more.

If you don’t need a coach right now but have questions about backyard ultra, get in touch, I’m happy to help [email protected]