Backyard Ultras: The Complete UK Beginner’s Guide
New to the backyard ultra? England BYU runner Lizzie explains the rules, distances, UK races, training, pacing, sleep and mindset for your first race.
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Coaching guides
Coaching Guides
Practical, honest guides to backyard ultras and ultra running, from training and fuelling to mindset and race day. Everything here comes from my own racing, including running for England, and from coaching athletes from their first yard to their next PB.
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New to backyard ultras, or just thinking about your first one? These are the guides I point my own athletes to first.
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!
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What to Look for in a Backyard Ultra Coach
Choosing a backyard ultra coach? 10 honest questions to ask, red flags to avoid, UK prices, and when you might not need a coach at all. From an England BYU runner.
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Getting started
What a backyard ultra actually is, how the rules work, how far you might go and whether it is for you (spoiler: it might well be!).
What Is a Mini Backyard Ultra, and Is It the Best First Step?
What is a mini backyard ultra? Real UK time-capped examples, how they differ from the full format, pros and cons, and how to use one in training.
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Ultra Running Tips from a First Timer, to a First Timer
I entered the Surrey Hills Ultra in September 2019 – 3 days before the event took place. I had completed a marathon 9 years earlier and I believe my longest recent run had been 10 miles. I went into this event absolutely clueless. I loved every minute of it, and wrote the following a few […]
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11 things ultra runners forget to talk about, but are actually quite important
Whether you’re a dab hand at ultra running or your first one is just around the corner, there are a number of things no one ever talks about/you never remember. Well, I’ve tried super hard to remember all of the things that happen to us ultra nutters before, during and after a long run. Some […]
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Want some help with your backyard ultra?
I coach runners from their very first backyard to big PBs, with training, fuelling, camp admin and mindset all covered.
