Between us we’ve run over 15 Backyard Ultra races, with more planned for 2025 and 2026 already! We often get asked questions at events or on social media about Backyards, and specifically how to improve your performance, so in this series of posts we’ll share some of our collected wisdom on running Backyard Ultras (BYU). We’ll assume you know what a BYU is – but if not Iain described the basics after his first BYU at the Cowshed in 2022 and you can read the official rules on bigsbackyardultra.com. Most of this advice has been worked out by the hard process of trial and error and after every race we always think of changes we can make for the next one, but some of it has been learned from friends and competitors, as well as the many BYU podcasts, films and articles that are out there. We hope you pick up a tip or two that help!
We’ll go into quite some detail on each topic, but if you just want the short version, look for the highlighted tips ⚠️ If you are interested in some personalised advice and training, please check out our coaching services or contact us to find out more…
Pacing Strategy
Unlike a normal ultra, the rules of the backyard sets the overall pacing for you. 1 yard (4.167 miles or 6.706km) every hour equates to 14m23s per mile or 8m57s per km so that’s the slowest you can go and still complete the yard within the hour. Of course that doesn’t leave any time for anything you might want to do between yards such as eat and drink, change clothes or shoes, fix any blisters, go to the loo, just have a rest (or sleep… more on that later). While many of us could easily complete a single loop in 30-35 minutes, to go a long way in a backyard you need to be more efficient – firstly using energy more efficiently, and secondly by reducing damage to the body. Both of these can be achieved by slowing down, but the question is… how much?
Most backyard runners tend to aim for a loop time in the 45-55 minute range, in fact according to backyardstats.com the average loop time over all the 25,297 yards that were run was 49:02. That’s still quite a lot of variation: between 10m48s and 13m12s per mile. It’s not as simple as one being “better” than the other. You can argue for going slower as being more efficient, but it also reduces the amount of recovery time you have between yards. On the other hand going faster allows for more recovery time at the cost of working while out on the loop. Everyone has their own preference but bear in mind that some people find they stiffen up during a long rest!
⚠️ Tip 1: Plan to complete each yard in between 45 and 55 minutes. ⚠️
Let’s see what some of the best backyarders in the world do… the graph below shows the lap times of the top 5 finishers at the Suffolk BYU 2024. All five of them had PBs of 70+ and Lukasz became the world record holder in 2025.
Firstly, we can see that all of them slowed down by at least 5 minutes during the course of the race. Secondly, it shows that Lukasz is an outlier in that he is one of the few top-level backyarders who consistently runs at sub-45 minute pace, even late on in the race.
In our experience, we have aimed for the slowest possible pace that still allows enough time between loops to do everything that needs to be done and allowing enough “buffer” to account for slowing down later in the race. For us that’s typically around 52 minutes or 12m30s per mile, but it’s clear there is no substitute for testing it out for yourself to find a pace that you are comfortable with.
⚠️ Tip 2: Make sure to leave yourself enough time at the end of the loop and for slowing down later in the race. Starting out at 52 minute loops with 8 minutes break is our best advice. ⚠️
Once you’ve chosen a target pace, the next step is to decide how much of the loop you plan to run and how much you will walk. For many of us, even if aiming for a relatively speedy 45 minute yard, the required pace (10m48s per mile) is still slower than we might typically run so we need to consider walking for some of the loop.
This graph shows us three things. First, the purple line at around 12 minutes per mile says it becomes more efficient to walk than run – any slower than this and you should definitely consider switching to a walk. Second, running excessively slowly is inefficient. When you do run, you should run at or just slightly slower than your “normal” endurance running pace. Your body is well used to this movement pattern and it’s the most efficient speed for you to run for long durations. Finally, there is a walking pace that is most efficient – in this graph it’s at the pace of 24 mins per mile, but even at faster paces, walking is still more efficient than running. In a BYU where you need to cover a set distance (4.167 miles) in a fixed time what this means is the most efficient combination is to walk as much as possible, and the faster you walk the less time you have to spend running. If you have a strong walking pace, you might be able to walk for as much as 80% of the time!
⚠️ Tip 3: Walk as much as you can while maintaining your target pace. ⚠️
⚠️ Tip 4: Run at or just below your normal “long run” running pace. ⚠️
When it comes to putting this into practice you need a method to make sure you’re sticking to your target pace. That way you’ll avoid getting close to the end of the yard and having to sprint to make it in time! Some people like to identify key markers on the course… “I need to be at the top of the hill by 20 minutes”, “I need to have reached the turnaround by 25 minutes”… and work out these points over the first few yards.
What Iain likes to do is to track his pace on each mile using the “lap pace” on Garmin combined with an auto-lap at 1 mile intervals, and aim to hit the target pace on each mile. If he is ahead of pace, he can slow down a bit on the next mile and vice versa. This strategy also easily adapts to courses which have hills or other obstacles. For example, at GOBYU 2023 we did the first mile (flat) in 12 minutes, the second mile (uphill) in 13 minutes, and the remaining two miles (undulating) in 12m30s. At Pig on the Hill which has much more elevation per loop and Iain ran at 13 minutes per mile for the whole loop, coming in at around 54 minutes per yard.
You can also use this method to vary your pace during the race. For example as the race goes on and you begin to slow down, you can allow yourself an extra 15s on each mile. Or on races which have a different day and night loop, the night loop is usually easier – either less elevation or easier terrain, so you might consider a faster pace during the night.
⚠️ Tip 5: Track your pace during the loop to hit your target time, adapting to varying terrain if needed. ⚠️
Sleep Strategy
Most people are capable of staying awake for at least 24 hours, with practice! Especially if you are running a BYU in the summer and the night is quite short it’s completely realistic to run through the whole of the first night (and even the second!) without any sleep. Even if you need to go hard on the caffeine (tea/coffee, gels, cocoa beans, caffeine gum) to get you through, it’s do-able in the short term. If you’ve never run through the night before, it’s definitely worth practicing in training. Not only will you find out how your mind and body respond to the darkness, but you’ll also learn how to run by torchlight. It’s a good idea to figure out a safe 4.167 mile loop that you can run from your home or car, and try at least a 6 hour overnight backyard run. You’ll feel much more prepared when nightfall comes during the race.
⚠️ Tip 6: Practice running at night in training before you do it in the race ⚠️
If you are aiming to run for several days at a BYU, at some point you’re going to need to sleep. The next question is when and for how long! Similar to the variation in pacing strategies, there are lots of possible sleep strategies. Some runners prefer micro-naps – sleeping for just 5 or so minutes whenever they need it. It could be every loop during the night, or every so often when you feel sleepy. Alternatively, some prefer a longer sleep – 15 or even 20 minutes. Of course this requires running a faster loop so that you have enough time left in the hour. Again, how often you do this (and how early in the race) is a matter of personal preference. At Rasselbock BYU 2025 Iain did two loops on the first night in 41 and 45 minutes and one on the second night of 44 minutes to get a longer sleep. He also took micro-naps on most of the night yards, especially between midnight and 5am. On the other hand, Julie has run through two nights without any real sleeps 😮 As mentioned above, some courses have an easier night loop which naturally lends itself to faster loop times. Some runners have been known to sleep during the day too, but this is definitely less common!
⚠️ Tip 7: Plan for running faster loops at night to allow longer between loops for sleeping.⚠️
In the graph above we can see the amount of time spent resting (not necessarily sleeping) of the top 8 finishers at the 2023 Individual World Championship race at Big’s. There are 13 night yards so on the first night they were averaging about 3 hours of rest (nearly 14 minutes per yard), dropping to 1-2 hours (4-9 minutes per yard). A closer look at the data shows that Frank who had the least rest in total, still ran at least 2 or 3 faster laps each night.
Once you’ve figured out how much time to leave for sleeping, how to make the best use of it? The first thing to note is that if you plan to sleep, you either need someone to wake you up (crew or a race volunteer – if they are willing!) or take a bit more risk and rely on an alarm or the whistles to wake you up. Whatever you plan, don’t DNF because you were asleep and failed to make it to the corral in time! Waking up with 60-90 seconds to go to the start of the lap is plenty of time, as long as everything you need for the next loop is prepared beforehand (or can be prepared by your crew while you sleep)
⚠️ Tip 8: Have a foolproof plan for waking up in time – ideally a reliable crew member ⚠️
Getting to sleep can prove difficult for some, and it’s frustrating especially if you are very sleepy out on the trail, but then can’t sleep in camp. Here are some pointers that have worked well for us. Stay off caffeine in the hours before you plan to sleep – for me that means caffeine in the morning and then staying caffeine-free for the rest of the day (unless in absolute emergency when I might take a caffeine gel during a night loop). Create a warm and comfortable place to sleep – this could be a reclining chair, a camp bed or inflatable mattress with a sleeping bag, blanket or dry-robe for warmth. If you don’t sleep well and the camp is bright and noisy, consider noise-cancelling headphones or earmuffs and a eye mask. Iain finds pulling a hood over his head is enough!
⚠️ Tip 9: Create a warm, cosy and quiet environment to sleep – as best as you can in a camp full of other runners ⚠️
Slow down and walk the last few minutes of the loop – this will give your heart rate time to drop and help you enter a naturally sleepy state. It’s hard to drop off when your heart is pounding! Try to avoid having to do any extra tasks on the loops when you plan to sleep. If you need to prepare supplies to carry with you on the next loop or need to eat or drink in camp, either have your crew do it for you (if you have crew) or wake up with enough time to get it done before starting the next yard.
⚠️ Tip 10: Prepare to sleep – slow down at the end of the yard, and minimise interruptions or extra tasks (or keep them for when you wake up) ⚠️
Once again, everyone is different – so there is no substitute for practice. After having difficulty sleeping during the 2024 Team World Championship, Iain did a 12-hour overnight practice session in January with a full 12 hours of darkness, experimenting with faster laps to allow for longer sleep, and also practicing waking up from a wrist-watch alarm, and it paid off at Rasselbock 2025!
We hope you’ve found this first Backyard Tips post to be interesting, informative and hopefully useful. In the next post in this series we’ll dive in to the topics of nutrition and hydration… see you soon! 👋
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