It’s been a while since the previous post in this series, but with 4 weeks to go until Iain’s next race at God’s Own Backyard Ultra and with the Individual World Championship going on at Big’s this week our thoughts have turned back to BYU again! This time we’ll be taking a look into mental strategies and crew – the two topics are connected 😀 Hopefully if you’re read the first two posts you’ll have a good grasp of the basics of how to run a backyard, but in our experience very few people DNF because they physically reached their limits (although there are a few notable exceptions such as Sam Harvey at Dead Cow Gully 2025). Mostly people either give up out on the loop, or Refuse To Continue (RTC) by failing to start another loop. We’ve also heard many runners (including Iain at the World Teams Championship in 2024) whose minds gave up when they had plenty of physical capability left. Mind and body are closely connected and you need to get the most out of both of them to go far in the backyard. The aim of this post is to give you some strategies to help you get closer to your absolute limit.
Mental Strategies
Many of the strategies we’re about to describe apply to ultras or endurance sports in general (we recommend these two books in particular for a deep dive into endurance sports psychology) but there are some nuances that apply specifically to Backyard Ultra running. There are several famous sayings such as “Fail to plan, plan to fail” and “Proper Planning Prevents (Piss-)poor Performance” meaning that if you don’t adequately plan, you won’t get the best results. When preparing for a Backyard Ultra, it’s definitely worth thinking through important topics such as what pace you plan to run, when and what you will eat and drink, when you plan to sleep, what gear you will take (and maybe change during the race). Your plan doesn’t have to be written down, although that can be helpful if you have a crew (more on that topic later), but at least thinking everything through in advance definitely helps!
At the same time, we know that “no plan survives contact with the enemy”. It’s important to maintain a flexible mindset, meaning that you have a plan but are prepared and willing to diverge from the plan. That could mean coming in with several plans: if Plan A fails, switch to Plan B, Plan C etc. or just being willing to adapt on the fly. What you don’t want is to stick so tightly to your plan that you get stressed or discouraged when you eventually diverge from the plan. For example if you’ve been eating on a strict schedule but on lap 12 you can’t stomach the planned pot noodle (or whatever) – don’t panic! Plan B could be to try a different food instead, or switch to liquid calories for an hour or so. If you find at some point that you can no longer maintain your planned pace – don’t panic! Settle on a (slightly) slower pace that you can maintain and see what happens, your body might just be going through a low point and you can come back to your previous pace, or you just need to carry on at the new pace. The point here is to avoid the feeling of failure and other negative emotions associated with deviating from the plan that can lead quickly to a mental collapse. Instead, adapt, refocus and feel empowered that you are responding well to the situation and remain in control!
⚠️ Tip 25: Maintain a flexible mindset. Don’t be afraid to adapt your plan during the race – make positive choices and remain in control of the situation. ⚠️
Starting a backyard with a fixed goal is dangerous! It’s well documented that people often reach their goal (or just beyond it) and DNF as they have no motivation to continue. Most DNFs come after yard 7 (ultra distance), yard 8 (50k), yard 12 (50 miles), yard 15 (100k), yard 24 (100 miles). If you have a specific goal in mind that’s fine, but if you want to go as far as possible it’s best not to have a specific goal but have a range of milestones. Aim to have milestones about 3-5 yards apart, that after you pass each one there is always another tantalisingly just within reach. For example, at Rasselbock BYU I had a list (going all the way up to 100 yards+) with the following milestones:
- Distance milestones every 50 miles and 100km
- Sunrise and sunset milestones (“Made it to through day 2”, “Made it through the 2nd night”, …)
- Personal milestones (Backyard PB, longest distance, longest time raced)
- External milestones (3rd place on UK team… 1st place on UK team, at-large place at Big’s …)
- Records (Scottish record, UK record, World record)
Write down your milestones somewhere (I keep mine in a document that’s downloaded to my phone), and share them with your crew so they can motivate you to reach them. Be sure to congratulate yourself as you pass them too!
⚠️ Tip 26: Don’t have a fixed goal distance, instead have a series of milestones that you can tick off as you pass them. ⚠️
One of the things that makes Backyard Ultra more mentally challenging than other ultras is that the race has no defined end. By using these two strategies you can “trick” your brain into maintaining a sense of progress and control – and the amazing thing is the trick works even if you are conscious of it!
At some point during every race you’ll reach a hard point where you’ll need to find a way to push through and finish a few more yards… and maybe recover to do many more. Borrowing again from the sports psychologists, there are two main strategies that you can use – and the most successful athletes have both options in their mental arsenal and can use the most appropriate (or switch between them) to help push though a low point.
The first one is intrinsic focus. This means concentrating specifically on what your body is doing and feeling (staying “in the moment”) and making an active mental effort to control it. For example, if you are struggling to maintain a specific pace you could focus on form (knee drive, push off through the hips, drive with your arms…) or counting strides to keep your cadence high. Poles are not allowed in Backyard Ultra, but if I find my walking pace has started to slow, especially when going uphill I often bring out my “imaginary poles” and use my arms as if I had poles. It looks silly but it really works! Plus the imaginary poles are free, don’t weigh anything and you can’t lose them – nearly as good as the real things. You can also break up the loop into chunks… just need to reach the end of this mile, just need to reach the next lamp-post / tree / track junction, whatever is available to help measure your progress.
Alternatively, you can use extrinsic focus, which is closely related to distraction techniques. Anything to take your mind away from what your body is feeling and doing. That could be thinking about things outside the race – what you’ll be doing the next week, or a holiday coming up. Note: it can be dangerous to think about what you’ll do immediately after the race – the lure of a hot bath or soft bed can lead to a DNF! Some people like to make a phone call to their friends and have a chat, or just spend time talking to the runners around you. Put a pair of headphones in and listen to music, podcasts or audio books. By taking the focus away from the monotony and suffering of the race, you can often go further and/or faster. Music in particular can really boost your running speed, at least for a short while.
⚠️ Tip 27: Turn your focus either inwards (staying in the moment) or outwards (distractions) to help you through a low patch. ⚠️
Of course, a Backyard Ultra is not a solo event – even up to the very end there will be at least one other runner there with you on the course. Without sounding misanthropic about it – use them to your advantage!
During the early yards of the race when the course is busy, it can be fun to talk to people – either old friends or make new ones on the course. It’s a form of extrinsic focus that can pass the time until it starts getting hard and you need to turn your focus onto yourself. Running with other people can also be a good way to maintain a pace if you’re struggling. Find someone who is just a little bit ahead of you and either latch on and try to follow them closely, or run alongside and strike up a conversation. If you’re still at a stage of the race where you’re feeling comfortable, it can be a good idea to “buddy up” with someone who is struggling a bit and encourage them along. Focussing on someone else’s race is an excellent motivator and distraction! Just be careful if they are skirting too close to the 60 minute cut-off you might have to leave them if it’s too risky for your own race.
As runners inevitable drop out, some people (myself included) like to keep an eye on the number of runners remaining. As the number decreases steadily, it’s another way of tricking your brain that you are making progress – the end of the race is getting closer, even though it’s not fixed when it will be! In the latter stages of the race it can often be an advantage to team up with other runners, if you can find someone who is a similar pace to you, and of course that you enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes even the very last two runners work together to reach a higher number of yards. Going back to the flexible mindset, if you do spend a lot of time with another runner, don’t let yourself get dependent on them – there may come a point where they DNF or get too slow and you need to strike out on your own. Working together can be good up to a point, but don’t feel guilty about prioritising your own race. After all it is a race!
⚠️ Tip 28: Work with the other runners around you, but don’t become dependent on them! ⚠️
Crew
It’s certainly possible to run a backyard without any crew (we have!) but if you want to go far, especially if you want to sleep, then a crew is indispensable! The purpose of having a crew is really to take as much mental and physical load off the runner so that they can fully rest between yards. In addition they will provide valuable encouragement and much sure you get back into the corral in time to start each lap (even if you’re sleeping). It’s not a job for the faint-hearted, but a very rewarding one too as the runner and crew really form a team and are both deeply invested in a successful result. So what should you consider when choosing a crew?
It’s a very individual thing, but ultimately it needs to be someone you trust (or grow to trust). It could be a friend, a family member, your partner, a running club member or running buddy. If you can’t find someone to crew for you, it’s often possible to find a volunteer from the local running community – don’t be afraid to ask on social media, or reach out to the race director to see if they can match-make you with someone. One thing to consider is whether or not you want someone close to you (family or partner). Your crew is going to see you at some pretty low points and watch you push your body to its limits and someone close to you might not be willing to see that. You’ll also rely on your crew to push you on when you can no longer push yourself (more on that topic later). Sometimes it’s better to be crewed by someone who is not quite so emotionally invested in you!
To be a good crew member, they don’t need to be a good backyard runner, or even a runner at all! As long as they are willing to commit to do the job, anybody can do it! As I said earlier, it can be a hard job being “on-call” for your runner every hour (and sometimes during the hour too), so it’s worth considering having more than one person in your crew. It’s possible to have just a single crew person but they need to be capable of functioning with only 30-40 minutes sleep every hour during the night. Alternatively, if you have more than one person then you can organise shifts so that one person can get a solid block of sleep while another crews, or do a 24 hour shift and hand over to the next person – there are lots of possibilities!
⚠️ Tip 29: Consider having multiple people in your crew (and agree a schedule that works for them). Choose wisely as they will see you at your lowest and rawest points! ⚠️
The most important thing to do once you’ve assembled your crew is (before the event) agree exactly what you expect them to do. That could be a crew meeting or phone call in the weeks leading up to the race, or just a quick briefing an hour or so before the start. Most crews will go above and beyond, but clear setting of expectations between the runner and crew are essential for the race to go smoothly and increase your chances of success! Here are some practical things that you might ask your crew to do for you (and some you might not), we’ll talk about encouragement and motivation shortly:
- Preparing food, drink and any required items so they are ready when the you arrive back from the loop
- Keeping your kit and rest area tidy, organised, warm and dry. Make sure that your crew knows where all your gear is stored, and if you are willing for them to reorganise things as needed!
- Reminding you to do things – for example if you have regular changes of socks planned, or regular medication that you need to take each morning, brushing your teeth etc.
- Waking you up from any sleeps, or just giving you adequate time to get back into the corral (especially if you can’t hear the 3,2,1 minutes whistles from your camp spot).
- Monitoring how much food and drink you are eating (and asking you to take more or less as needed).
- Keeping track of any painkillers, salt tablets etc that you might take to be sure you take the correct dosage.
- Helping you to change socks, shoes and kit quickly (especially if you’re wet)! This is debatable as I find putting on socks and shoes is easier done by myself.
- Charging watches, phones and head-torches (or reminding you to take a power bank with you on the loop).
- Making sure you take any mandatory kit items out on the loop, especially at night (headtorch, reflective clothing).
- Going to the shops for any special requests (e.g. takeaway pizza or chips) or replenishing supplies.
- Help with footcare, applying KT tape, personal hygiene and massages. It’s important to set boundaries here, for example your crew might be OK to wet-wipe your feet and legs but more intimate areas might be off-limits 😱
I’m sure you can think of more but the key point is to make sure your crew know what you expect them to do, what you will do yourself, and agree which tasks fall into each category!
⚠️ Tip 30: Be clear with your crew about the tasks you need them to do before the race starts – even if they’ve crewed for you before! ⚠️
We discussed earlier about having a plan but remaining flexible and able to adapt to the inevitable changes that will occur during the race, and that applies to your crew too! Even if you have a detailed plan with tasks, food choices etc. laid out lap-by-lap, discuss with your crew how you plan to manage changes. That could be done on the fly, simply by telling your crew what you want next lap, or you could take your phone out on the loop and message/call your crew with any requests that occur during the loop. It saves time if they know in advance that you’re going to need fresh socks, feeling cold so need an extra layer, or just fancy a specific food (especially if it needs to be prepared) – otherwise you’re going too spend a couple of precious minutes of your rest period waiting for them to provide what you need!
⚠️ Tip 31: Consider taking your phone out on the yard so that you can contact your crew with any urgent requests. ⚠️
As well physical / logistical support, the psychological support of a crew can be make the difference between an early DNF and pushing through to the next milestone, or even a PB or race win. The best way for your crew to support you is highly individual. It’s an oversimplification, but on one side there are people who respond best to gentle encouragement – “you’ve got this”, “we believe in you” – and on the other hand those who respond best to tough love – “don’t be shit”, “quitting is for losers” and of course there are many shades of nuance in between. What works can even change during the race itself, so the better you know your runner’s needs the better. Some will respond well to positive affirmations (“you’re strong, you’re in control”) , reminders of the people who are supporting them from afar (“do it for your family”), looking at the big picture (“pain is temporary, achievements last forever”), and many other things.
Whatever the strategy or strategies you put in place, the most important thing to avoid falling out with your crew is how hard you are willing to be pushed. If you want your crew to do absolutely anything to put you back into the corral to start the next loop that’s fine, but expect them to pull every trick in the book to bully you out there even if you don’t want to! The aim is for you and your crew to come to the end of your race still working well as a team and them having done the best for you (whatever that is).
⚠️ Tip 32: Agree with your crew how they can motivate you, and how hard you want them to push you when the going gets tough. ⚠️
That’s a wrap for this post. Hopefully you’ve picked up a few tips on how to optimise your mindset and work well with your crew. Add that to a good plan for pacing and sleep and nutrition and hydration and you’re well on your way to Backyard Ultra success. In the next and final post in this series we’ll be looking into the logistics of the race and how to train specifically for Backyard Ultras. Until then, if you need some personalised support please check out our coaching services or send us a message with your questions!