Stop Guessing Your Paces and Start Using VDOT

I have a weird hobby to confess.

 

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I'll pull up a simple savings calculator and type in a ridiculous amount of money just to see how much interest I would earn each month.

 

And I think to myself, if I only had $100 million in my savings, I would get over $200,000 a month in interest.

 

This ridiculous fascination also shows up in another context called VDOT.

 

VDOT was developed in the 1970s by renowned running coach and exercise scientist Dr. Jack Daniels, who passed away just a few weeks ago at the age of 92. He's remembered as one of the most influential running coaches of all time, blending science and practice in ways that changed the sport forever.

 

At its core, VDOT is a simple but powerful idea that connects your race performance to your racing and training paces.

 

It's like a universal translator for running fitness.

 

The practical application is straightforward. Input a finishing time for one race distance, and VDOT will predict what you could run at other distances. That means you can use a shorter race, such as a 5K, to effectively pace a longer race, like a half-marathon or marathon.

 

Of course, I sometimes abuse it by plugging in ridiculous times just to see what other ridiculous times it spits out. (“Wow, if I could run a 4-minute mile, I could run a 2:11 marathon!”)

 

Now, I don’t recommend going down these fantasy rabbit holes, but if you do any running, I do recommend downloading the free VDOT calculator app and applying it to your training.

 

VDOT is essentially a “functional VO₂ max.” Rather than just lab numbers, it translates lab numbers into actual race performance.

• Plug in a Race Time: Enter your most recent 1-mile, 5K, half, or marathon result into the VDOT calculator.
• Get Your Training Paces: The calculator provides your individualized pace ranges for easy runs, long runs, threshold workouts, intervals, and speed sessions.
• Predict Other Races: That same calculation estimates what you’d run at other distances—if you train properly.

Instead of guessing your workouts (and fading at the end), VDOT keeps your training locked to your current fitness.  As your race times improve, your VDOT score rises, and so do your training zones.

 

It keeps you from running your easy days too hard and your hard days too soft.

 

So yes, my $100 million savings account and 4-minute mile may be pure fantasy, but when you plug in your real race time, you get a blueprint to train smarter and race faster.

 

The genius of the VDOT system is that it makes elite science usable for every runner.

 

You can read more about the remarkable life of Jack Daniels in this recent New York Times article.  He was a soldier, an Olympian, a coach, a scientist, and a scholar, among many other things.