What Intermediate-Level Training Looks Like

Scrolling social media there’s hundreds examples of runners on their own journeys towards PRs or big races, which are all motivating and fun to follow. But usually these runners are either 1) extremely fast by any measure or 2) beginners. This leaves out the intermediate athlete, a section of runners we rarely hear from and the stories of how they train. They’re just as valiant in training, but don’t catch the eye as the person turning their life around going from coach to marathon or the elite level runner documenting training en route to an Olympic standard mark.

The main reason for this is simple. It’s boring content. Running medium-level mileage and hitting splits that don’t exactly “wow” the average social media scroller don’t drive clicks. But if you’re reading this, I assume you are of a different breed. You found your way to the paid section of a niche running blog and you're going to get exactly that. Because I don’t think training is boring, and I don’t believe you do either. I will be profiling an athlete of mine that I got the chance to work with for a few months this passed winter.

So let’s jump in.

Meet Bert. He’s 40 years old, family man, was never a “runner”, cycling background, overall good athlete, and just-serious-enough to take notes around his training (like everyone should be).