Paces from VDOT

VDOT is coach Jack Daniels' fitness score, read from a recent race time. Training paces, from easy runs to short fast reps, are set as shares of it, so they fit the runner you are now.

VDOT comes from equations Jack Daniels and Jimmy Gilbert published in 1979. It reads a race time as the oxygen uptake that pace would take, so a 24:08 5K is a VDOT of 40 and a 19:57 5K is 50. It rolls aerobic capacity, how much of it you can hold and running economy into one number. It's a coaching tool, not a lab test, and not your Apple Watch's VO2 max. Predicting Valencia Marathon times from half marathons, a 2026 study found VDOT close for the fastest runners and further off for slower ones.

Daniels sets training paces as shares of VDOT: easy runs at about 59 to 74%, threshold in the high 80s, intervals close to 100% and short repetitions faster still. Marathon pace is the VDOT's marathon time.

Pajdo takes your VDOT from the best of a race or time trial you enter (it counts for 90 days) and your runs of 3 km or more from the last 60 days. Training paces come from that fitness, never from your target. No estimate yet? Then heart rate steers your runs.

This is general wellness information, not medical advice. If a number worries you, or stays away from your usual for a while, talk to a doctor.

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