Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station determines configuration information for a random access procedure, where the configuration information includes a repetition pattern associated with a first message of the random access procedure. A user equipment (UE) receives, from the base station, a configuration message that indicates the configuration information for the random access procedure. The UE determines a repetition pattern associated with a first message of the random access procedure based on the configuration information. The base station receives, from the UE, multiple instances of the first message based on the repetition pattern.