Tarawera 50km: 20 Week Her Trails Training Program
Prepare for the Tarawera 50km with a structured program designed for runnable trails, rolling climbs, and longer time on feet. Over 20 weeks, you’ll develop the strength, endurance, and mindset to arrive confident and ready on race day.
Whether this is your first ultra or you’re chasing a stronger, smoother 50k, this program blends training science, female physiology, and community support to help you feel strong, steady, and grounded on the start line.
Our approach honours the complexity of the female runner: physiology, mindset, and the realities of training around life. Recovery, nutrition, and nervous system care are not extras: they’re built into the structure.
- Foundations: Rhythm, easy runs, mobility, and strength to create durability.
- Build: Progressive long runs, fuelling practice, and terrain skills.
- Strengthen: Sustained climbs, downhill resilience, and mindset tools.
- Sharpen: Race-specific pacing, gear practice, and efficiency.
- Taper: Reduce volume, maintain sharpness, and arrive fresh.
- Race-specific: Training reflects Tarawera’s ~1150m of gain, runnable terrain, and long climbs.
- Female-focused: Sessions and recovery are guided with notes on cycle health and energy balance.
- Whole-runner approach: Strength, yoga, mobility, and mindset are integrated as essentials, not afterthoughts.
- Live coaching + community: Weekly calls and daily support keep you accountable and connected.
- Accessible anywhere: All sessions and resources are app-based, ready wherever you train.
- 4–6 structured run sessions per week with progressive load + recovery weeks.
- 1–2 strength sessions weekly for climbing power and injury resilience.
- 1–2 yoga + mobility practices each week for balance, posture, and recovery.
- Weekly coaching insights curated specifically for Tarawera 50km preparation.
- Live weekly coaching calls + daily support in our community & coaching hub.
- All sessions accessible on your phone through our app & via desktop.
This training plan is equally effective for runnable 50–60 km trail ultras featuring rolling climbs and flowy terrain. Ideal races include:
- Warburton Lumberjack 50 km (Australia): ~1,200 m of rolling elevation, runnable forest trails.
- Chuckanut 50 km (USA): forested singletrack with sustained runnable sections.
- Taupo Ultramarathon 50 km (New Zealand): flowy lakeside trails and manageable climbs.
If you're planning any race that feels more runnable than technical and has rolling elevation, this training roadmap will serve you well. During our weekly coaching calls we can provide tailored guidance.
To talk this through simply email us at [email protected].
Her Trails in Motion
These films capture our athletes and community in action across the races where Her Trails runs dedicated programs. They offer a real glimpse of how training, racing, and community support come together: moving beyond the plan, into lived experience.
What you see here is more than racing: it’s community, confidence, and connection in motion.
