Pre-programme your race

The best Backyard Ultra runners aren't making decisions out on the course. They made them weeks ago. Here's why removing choice is one of the most powerful things you can do before race day.

There's a version of racing a Backyard Ultra where you go in with a general plan and figure it out as you go. You eat when you feel hungry. You walk when you need a break. You check in with how you're feeling and adjust on the fly.

That version doesn't work very well.

Not because improvising is always bad, but because at hour fourteen, your ability to make good decisions is genuinely compromised. You're tired. You're not thinking clearly. And the last thing you want is to be standing at your tent at 2am trying to decide whether you feel like eating anything, or whether that section of trail is a good place to walk, or whether you should push the pace this loop or hold back.

The answer to all of that is to not have those conversations at all. You decide everything before you start, and then you execute the plan. No renegotiation. No in-race committee meetings. Just the programme, running.

The Swiss watch principle

The mental image I keep coming back to is a mechanical watch movement. Swiss precision engineering. Every component doing exactly what it was designed to do, in exactly the same sequence, over and over again without variation or complaint. It doesn't wonder whether it feels like turning. It just turns.

That's the runner you're trying to be in a Backyard Ultra. Not robotic, but settled. Pre-programmed. You're not improvising out there, you're executing something you already figured out. The decisions were made in training. The plan was locked in before the start gun. On race day, your only job is to follow it.

What to pre-programme

Almost everything, honestly. But the three that matter most are when to walk, when to eat, and when to drink.

Walking. On most Backyard Ultra courses there are geographic features that naturally tell you where to walk. A climb, a soft section, a technical stretch. Use those. If your course has a hill at the 2km mark, you walk the hill, every loop, from loop one. You don't decide in the moment whether you feel like it. You just walk the hill. It becomes automatic.

If your course is flat, you build walk breaks in anyway, pegged to distance or landmarks rather than how you feel. Some people use the run/walk ratio approach (there are lots of theories on that, worth reading around and finding what works for you). The specific method matters less than the fact that it's decided in advance.

Eating. Know what you're eating and when before you start. Not vaguely, specifically. This loop, soup and a piece of bread. Next loop, banana and a gel. The loop after that, whatever your main savoury is. When you get to your tent you're not browsing options, you're picking up the thing you already decided was next.

Drinking. Same idea. Hydration on the loop follows a pattern, not a feeling. Thirst is a lagging indicator and in a long race you can be significantly under-hydrated before you notice it. Programme your drink points in and stick to them regardless of how you feel.

When the programme needs adjusting

Pre-programming isn't about being rigid to the point of stupidity. If something is genuinely wrong, you adjust. But the bar for that should be high, and the decision to adjust should come from your crew or from something objective (you're overheating, a body part is failing) rather than from how you feel in a low moment. Feelings lie in the back half of a Backyard Ultra. The programme doesn't.

The real value of doing this work before race day is that it frees up mental energy on race day for the things that actually need your attention. Staying present. Managing your mood through the hard patches. Keeping your feet moving when everything tells you to stop. That's where your mind needs to be, not figuring out whether to eat the sandwich.

Decide everything you can decide in advance. Then run the programme.