Backyard Ultra - Its easy until its not

This was my second Backyard Ultra event and I was really keen to put to test what I had learnt at the first one.

The main takeaways from my previous go were to pace myself better, get my eating / drinking right and to get through the low mental point during the night.

I also had a lap goal of 24. This would equal 100 miles covered in 24 hours.

I'll be honest, the first couple of laps I found really boring. However these laps were great to get to know the loop. By the third lap I'd figured out what points to walk and when to run. I'd also figured out a good line through a particular muddy section which made life a bit easier.

By the fourth lap I felt like I was cruising. We had had some light rain but this had stopped. 

The two weeks leading up to this I'd cut caffeine out. This was the first time I'd ever done this and I definitely felt the difference. The next two laps were my quickest of the entire event. More importantly the constant caffeine, either from coffee or Tailwind, definitely helped keep me going through the night.

As we went into the night I knew that this was going to be the hard part. At least twelve hours of darkness and just the view from your headtorch.

Running through the night wasn't an issue this time. I'd mentally prepared for this and had some tricks to help with this. 

The first one was to try and keep to the same timing and plan for each lap. This involved walking the same sections and trying to maintain the same pace. 

Overall I managed to do this. Over the whole event my lap time was between 40 - 45 minutes (apart from the last lap). This was a bit quicker than I'd intended to go but I was feeling comfortable and decided carry on until I felt I needed to slow down.

The night laps were pretty uneventful. For the majority of them I was on my own and quite comfortable with my own company. 99% of my training is done on my own so this was nothing new to me. 

As we got closer to 2am I decided to pull out one of my plans to counter the mental side of this type of event. 

In my previous Backyard Ultra I'd gotten really low at 2am. This time I'd asked my wife and eldest son to write me a letter each that I would read at this time. 

Whilst I'm not going to share what they said they definitely helped. My motivation was full and spirits lifted.

The next few hours followed the same pattern. The temperature had dropped and I was finding I was stiffening up between laps. 

This is to be expected and it didnt take long before I was warmed up again.

My eating and drinking had been great. Each lap I was eating at least one bar of food and drinking tailwind. Between laps I was again making sure I was eating more. In fact the whole event I didn't have a single gel which I'm really pleased with. Personally I like gels but if I'm able I would rather use real food.

The last lap before the sun came up (lap 18) is where my race finished. I was jogging down a slight downhill and felt a new type of pain. I say new type of pain as I was already in pain. Covering 73 miles is definitely going to leave you with some muscular pain, this is to be expected and something that can be pushed through. 

The pain I'd suddenly started feeling was structural. The top of my left foot and left knee both started hurting every time I landed on them. The foot was the one that had me the most concerned. I just couldnt take any impact. This resulted in me walking in the last lap in a time of 55 minutes. 

As I sat back down in the tent I knew that my race was over. Any type of structural damage isn't worth risking and can / will lead to a long lay off. Considering I still had 6 more laps to do to get to my goal, it was to much. 

As lap number 19 started I stopped my watch and handed in my timing chip. This was definitely the right decision. At the time of writing this (a week later) I still cant take impact on my left foot.

Running an Ultramarathon comes with a element of risk. It's puts a huge amount of strain on your body and injuries are something you need to accept can / will happen.

I consider the event a success. Whilst I didn't achieve the time / mileage I had intended, everything was going to plan. Physically I could have carried on if it wasn't for the injury and mentally I was in a good place.

I now know I can make it through a night and cover the distance.

Backyard Ultras are a brutal type of race. It sounds and seems easy but in reality you are running someone else's race. Constantly having a hourly time pressure and not being able to run your own race.

I'm really looking forward to September where I have a 100 mile race that I can run on my terms. 

I'll end with listing some things that worked well for me:

1.Running with a hydration vest really helped. Having the ability to carry fuel and fluid meant I was able to take some whenever I wanted.

2. Having a plan for when things get mentally hard. This was the letters. I also had music and audio books ready to go but didn't need them in the end.

3. Kit. Having a change of clothes available plus extra kit was great. Being able to quickly put some waterproof trousers on to keep warm was great.

4. Shoes. For 55 miles. I used the new Inov8 Trailfly. Prior to this race I had ran 10k in them. They performed great. Lots a grip and enough cushioning.

If you have any questions about Backyard Ultras or want to know more please get in touch.