Race Day
How BackyardPace works from first setup through to the final bell.
Race morning
Open BackyardPace on your phone. Enter your scheduled race start time. That is the entire setup.
BackyardPace derives every lap start, every countdown and every recovery window from that single value. There is no further configuration required.
Tap to send the schedule to the watch. The watch confirms it's received. Put your phone away.
On the hour
BackyardPace counts down to the start on your wrist. When the clock hits zero, the lap is live. No button to tap. No manual start. The timing begins exactly as scheduled.
You're at the start line with 50, 100, sometimes 200 other runners. The watch knows what time it is. It knows when you need to be moving. You don't have to think about it.
Leave the start line and run.
During the lap
The watch screen shows you three things while you're running: how long you've been out on the current lap, how much time remains in the current lap window, and your heart rate.
This is intentional. In a race that can last 24, 36 or 48+ hours, cognitive load compounds. A screen that demands decisions is a screen that costs you energy. BackyardPace keeps it simple.
Glance, absorb, keep moving.
Crossing the line
You cross the finish line for that loop. You tap Lap Done on the watch. BackyardPace records your lap time and immediately transitions to recovery mode.
The screen switches to show your recovery countdown: the exact number of minutes and seconds until the next lap starts. Not an estimate. The exact number.
Sit down. Eat. Change your socks. Get your head right. The watch counts down. You don't have to.
Hours pass. Laps accumulate. Night falls.
The night laps
This is the part of a Backyard Ultra that general running apps were never built for. The race is still running. The format is identical. The hour starts again. But everything else has changed.
Decision-making is harder. Sleep deprivation is real. The maths that were simple at 9am are foggy at 3am. This is exactly when you need the least cognitive friction from your equipment.
BackyardPace keeps working the same way it did on lap one. The watch knows what time it is. It knows when you leave. It knows how long you have. You know what to look at. That's enough.
When it's over
At some point, every Backyard Ultra ends. You stop. Whether that's by choice, by missing the bell, or by being the last runner standing, the race is over.
Tap Stop Race on the watch. BackyardPace ends the workout, saves everything (GPS, heart rate, lap times, total duration) to Apple Health. Open the phone and your full race summary is waiting.
Total laps. Total distance. HR across the race. Splits. Everything that happened, recorded cleanly. The history screen stores it alongside previous races so you can track how you're improving.
Race Won
I'm Out
Coming soon
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