Trail Chat #15 with Phil Gore

RECAP: Trail Chat #15 with Phil Gore

Tuning in from the outskirts of Perth in WA, Phil Gore talked about his experience of Backyard Ultras, including mindset, key learnings, end-of-race goal setting, gear and much more.

In case you didn’t know, earlier this year, Phil broke the world record for the longest distance in a backyard ultra – running 600kms (373 miles) in four days on a cattle farm (known as Dead Cow Gully) in southern Queensland.

Phil explains that the idea was to get all the top runners from Australia, a few from NZ and a contender, Harvey Lewis, from the USA to give the event the opportunity to go a really long distance. The backyard ultra format requires runners to complete a loop of 6.7kms (4.1 miles) every hour, with the race continuing until one runner remains. That final runner only completes one more lap after the second last person drops out, so the stronger the field, the longer an event is likely to go. So whilst Phil didn’t go into the event with the goal to break the world record, with the elite field, knew that it was a possibility (and was excited about this).

To get through the backyard ultra format, Phil doesn’t overwhelm himself with the big distance, but instead focuses on each lap, knowing that he might be there for a while. And each lap is planned to a ‘T’ – he knows the pace he will run at, what he’ll eat, whether he’ll sleep or not etc. If you approach it this way, “stay in the present, go lap by lap and let the miles come to you”, you’ll do well.  You’ll have to tune in to watch the full chat here to learn more.