Build your Ohio's Backyard Ultra plan
The instant browser builder stops at the marathon, so this one comes from the coach itself. Tell it your race date, your weekly mileage, and the terrain you can get to, and it writes the whole build and keeps adapting it as you log the training. Free account, no card. You are about 21 weeks out.
- Distances
- 100 miles
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Field
- Capped at 120 runners, plus five elite places
- Taper starts
- March 2, 2027
Course
The Ohio's Backyard Ultra course
This is a last-runner-standing backyard ultra at the McChesney Ridge Athletic Club in Lucasville: every hour on the hour from 7:30 a.m. you run a 4.1667-mile loop (6.706 km), and you must be back in the corral for the next bell or you are out. By day the loop is two 2.08-mile laps of double-track trail, gravel, grass and dirt with about 450–475 feet of climbing per loop.
Read the full course notes
At 7:30 p.m. the race switches to an out-and-back night course on dirt, gravel and then paved road with a gradual 150 feet of gain, returning to the trail at 7:30 a.m. Once the bell rings you are self-supported: no crew, tent or car until you finish the loop. The winner is the last runner left, who must complete one more loop alone, and 24 yards add up to about 100 miles.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- 100 miles
- Field
- Capped at 120 runners, plus five elite places
- Weather on race day
- Late March in the southern Ohio hills usually means about 35–55 °F by day and a drop to the 30s overnight, with spring showers common. Plan dry layers, a headlamp and warm kit for the night course, and keep eating and drinking between loops, because the cold hours after midnight are where many backyard races are decided.
What to train for
The skill here is running each 4.17-mile loop in about 50 minutes and using the spare minutes well.
Practise back-to-back hourly loops on a local trail, for example 6–10 loops on a weekend, rehearsing a fixed routine: eat, drink, change if needed, and be in the corral early.
Build easy weekly volume, include long days on mixed trail and road since the night course is partly paved, and do a few loops after dark with a headlamp. Keep the pace truly easy (talk-test easy) and walk the climbs on the day loop to save your legs for the later yards.
Sample week
A sample Ohio's Backyard Ultra training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Tuesday Key session
- Hill repeats: 10 × 2 min up a steady grade, jog back down
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 6 mi
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 8 mi with 4 mi at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 4 mi, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 18–20 mi on trail, with as much climbing as you can find
- Sunday Key session
- Second long day, 10–12 mi easy on tired legs
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Ohio's Backyard Ultra
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on March 20, 2027, your taper starts around March 2, 2027.
Ohio's Backyard Ultra training questions
How long should I train for the Ohio's Backyard Ultra?
Most runners give a 100-mile race twenty to twenty-four weeks of focused training on top of a season of consistent aerobic mileage. The coach counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
Is the Ohio's Backyard Ultra course hilly?
Rolling. This is a last-runner-standing backyard ultra at the McChesney Ridge Athletic Club in Lucasville: every hour on the hour from 7:30 a.m. you run a 4.1667-mile loop (6.706 km), and you must be back in the corral for the next bell or you are out.
What is the weather usually like at the Ohio's Backyard Ultra?
Late March in the southern Ohio hills usually means about 35–55 °F by day and a drop to the 30s overnight, with spring showers common. Plan dry layers, a headlamp and warm kit for the night course, and keep eating and drinking between loops, because the cold hours after midnight are where many backyard races are decided.
When should I start tapering for the Ohio's Backyard Ultra?
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on March 20, 2027, your taper starts around March 2, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Ohio's Backyard Ultra training plan?
For this one, yes. The instant browser builder stops at the marathon, so an ultra plan comes from the coach itself, which needs a free account. Still no card, and the plan adapts as you log the training.