VDOT Calculator and Training Paces
Enter a recent race and get your VDOT score plus the easy, marathon, threshold, interval, and repetition paces to train at.
A fitness score from your race. Use these paces to guide your training runs.
| Run type | Pace / mi |
|---|---|
Easy / Long Aerobic base and recovery. Most weekly miles live here. | 8:49 - 10:09 |
Marathon Goal marathon effort. Steady and controlled. | 7:58 - 8:22 |
Threshold Comfortably hard. Tempo runs and cruise intervals. | 7:40 - 7:54 |
Interval Hard 3-5 min reps to build VO2max. | 6:55 - 7:06 |
Repetition Fast, short reps for speed and economy. | 6:24 - 6:39 |
Where the number comes from
VDOT is Jack Daniels' fitness score, built in the 1970s with Jimmy Gilbert from two curves: the oxygen cost of running at a given speed, and the fraction of maximum oxygen uptake a runner can sustain for a given duration. Feed in a race result and the maths works backwards to the fitness that performance implies. Daniels called it VDOT rather than VO2max on purpose. A lab test measures what your body can consume; a race measures what you actually manage to use. Two runners with identical lab numbers can race minutes apart, and VDOT sides with the race.
That is also why the input matters so much. A genuine, emptied-the-tank race gives an honest score. A tempo run you finished comfortably will lowball it, and every training pace built on it will be too slow.
A worked example
Take a 22:30 5K, this calculator's default. That scores a VDOT of 43.4 and produces easy runs at roughly 8:49 to 10:09 per mile, marathon effort at 7:58 to 8:22, threshold work at 7:40 to 7:54, and intervals at 6:55 to 7:06. Look at the spread. The runner just raced at 7:14 per mile, and the score says their easy days belong up to nearly three minutes per mile slower than that. Most self-coached runners have never deliberately run that slow, and that gap is exactly what makes the number useful.
The mistakes that spoil it
The classic one is treating the fast end of the easy range as a floor to beat. It is a ceiling. Grinding easy days at 8:30 when your range says 8:49 to 10:09 does not make you fitter sooner; it makes Thursday's intervals slower. The second is feeding the calculator a stale race. Fitness moves in both directions, and a 5K from last autumn says nothing about this spring. Re-test every six to eight weeks, or after any race you run hard.
The third is panicking when two distances disagree. A 5K VDOT of 46 and a marathon VDOT of 43 from the same runner is completely normal. The gap means your speed is ahead of your endurance, which is a message about what your long runs need, not a bug in the formula.
For the full story, read what VDOT is and the step-by-step guide to finding yours. To see what the same fitness predicts at every race distance, use the race time predictor.
VDOT questions
- What is a good VDOT score?
- Recreational runners mostly land between 30 and 45, solid club runners sit in the 45 to 55 band, and 60 plus is seriously quick. For reference, a 20:00 5K scores about 49.8 and a 45:00 10K about 45.3. Elite marathoners live in the 70s and 80s.
- Which race distance gives the most accurate VDOT?
- Whichever you raced hardest and most recently. A 5K or 10K is the usual choice because it is easy to race honestly. If you are training for a marathon, a recent half marathon gives paces that better reflect your endurance.
- Can I use a time trial instead of a race?
- Yes, if you genuinely empty the tank. Most runners go 10 to 20 seconds per mile slower alone than with competition around them, so treat a solo time-trial score as slightly conservative and re-test at your next real race.