The loop mindset

Most people struggle with running the same loop over and over. I don't. Here's what I think that difference actually comes down to, and what to do if repetition is your weakness.

The Backyard Ultra format is genuinely unusual. You run the same 6.7km loop, over and over again, for as long as you can keep going. The same trail. The same turns. The same hill in the same spot every single time. Hours become loops, loops become yards, yards become the whole race.

A lot of people really struggle with that. I've seen runners crack mentally long before their body gives out, just from the relentlessness of the same course. The repetition becomes suffocating. They start counting loops instead of running them. They start dreading the next one before the current one is finished.

I'm going to be honest: I don't really have that problem. I find the loop genuinely interesting. I notice different things each time around, the light changes, the ground shifts under your feet as it gets more worn through the night, the way your own body feels different at the same point in each loop. For me it's closer to meditative than monotonous.

I know that's a lucky disposition to have. Not everyone is wired that way. But I think there's something useful in understanding why some people embrace the loop and others fight it, because how you relate to the repetition goes a long way to determining how long you last.

What the loop actually is

The Backyard Ultra format is different from a 24-hour track race, even though both involve covering the same ground repeatedly. On a track, the monotony is total. There's no variation in terrain, no landmarks, no real sense of moving through space. A Backyard Ultra course, even if it's not spectacular, has enough going on to keep your brain loosely occupied.

More importantly, the loop has a rhythm. You know what's coming. You know where the climb is, where you get to open up, where you pick up the pace near the end. That predictability isn't a prison. It's a framework. And if you learn to use it rather than resist it, it becomes one of your biggest assets.

Switching to autopilot

The mental shift that makes long Backyard Ultras possible is this: at some point, you stop trying to think. You just run. You go onto autopilot and you stay there.

This sounds passive but it's actually a skill. Staying on autopilot means not engaging with every passing thought, not tallying how many loops you have left, not doing the maths on your remaining time. You're executing a programme that you set before the race started. You're not improvising. You're not deciding. You're just doing the thing you already decided to do.

Think about Swiss precision engineering. A mechanical movement doesn't wonder whether it feels like turning. It turns. Same tempo, same sequence, same output, loop after loop after loop. That's the mental state you're aiming for. Not mindlessness, but a kind of settled, contained rhythm that doesn't need external input to keep going.

The runners I've seen fall apart mentally are usually the ones who are still in decision-making mode at hour ten. Still weighing up whether to push or hold back, still calculating, still negotiating with themselves. That constant negotiation is exhausting. Autopilot isn't.

If repetition is your weakness

If you know that the sameness gets to you, there are things you can do about it before race day. The main one is to train on loops. Not occasionally, but regularly. Find a circuit near you, something under 2km, and run repeats on it. Get bored. Stay anyway. Learn what it feels like to keep going when your brain is begging for something different.

If you can't find a loop, a track works. It's not identical but it does the same job of training your mind to disengage from novelty and just execute.

The other thing that helps is building anchor points into each loop. A spot where you always walk. A landmark where you check in with yourself briefly, assess how you're feeling, take a sip. These anchors give your brain something to orient around without pulling you out of your rhythm. You're not running an endless featureless loop. You're running a loop with structure.

The loop mindset isn't about loving repetition. It's about making peace with it. And eventually, if you're lucky, you find it's not something you're tolerating at all. It's just where you live for the day.