Free tool · VDOT
VDOT Calculator
Enter a recent race time and get your Jack Daniels VDOT, your five training-pace zones, and your equivalent times from the mile to the marathon — the same model serious coaches use to prescribe workouts.
Your VDOT
47.0
A VO₂max-equivalent fitness score (Jack Daniels). Higher is fitter.
Training paces
Easy
Daily aerobic mileage
8:25 – 9:57/mi
Marathon
Goal marathon effort
7:39/mi
Threshold
Tempo / cruise intervals
7:17/mi
Interval
VO₂max repeats (~3–5 min)
6:07/mi
Repetition
Speed / economy (200–400m)
5:41/mi
Equivalent race times
1 mile
6:09
3K
12:11
5Kyou ran
21:00
8K
34:25
10K
43:32
15K
1:06:60
10 mile
1:12:14
Half marathon
1:36:28
Marathon
3:20:41
Stop calculating. Start training.
These numbers are the first 30 seconds of what Shed does.
Shed reads your Apple Health, grounds your VDOT in your actual training — not one race — and writes the whole block: every workout, every pace, adjusted as life happens. The calculator gives you a snapshot; Shed gives you the plan.
Get your plan on iPhoneWhat VDOT tells you
VDOT turns one race into a complete picture of your fitness. From that single number you can read the pace you should run every type of workout, and the time you’d be capable of at any other distance today. It’s the cleanest way to answer “what shape am I in, and what should I be running?” without guessing.
The five zones below the VDOT score map to the five stimuli a balanced plan trains: easy for aerobic volume, marathon for goal-pace stamina, threshold for clearing lactate, interval for raising your VO₂max ceiling, and repetition for speed and economy.
How to use it
Pick the distance of a recent race, type the time, and read across. Use the easy range for most of your week, hit threshold and interval paces only on quality days, and treat the equivalent race times as targets you’ve effectively already earned — if you’re trained for the distance.
Frequently asked
- What is VDOT?
- VDOT is Jack Daniels’ measure of running fitness — a VO₂max-equivalent score computed from a race performance rather than a lab test. It collapses your aerobic fitness and running economy into one number you can train from. A higher VDOT means faster sustainable paces at every distance.
- How is VDOT calculated?
- From the velocity of a maximal race effort. Daniels’ equations estimate the oxygen cost of that pace and what fraction of your VO₂max you can hold for the race duration; VDOT is the ratio. This calculator runs those exact equations on the race you enter.
- Which race should I enter?
- A recent, hard, even-effort race — ideally in the last 4–6 weeks. A 5K or 10K is the most reliable for most runners. The fresher and more maximal the effort, the more honest your paces.
- Are the training paces accurate?
- They’re the standard Daniels E/M/T/I/R zones, which are well validated. The catch: a single race is a snapshot. The paces are only as current as the race you enter, and they don’t know your training depth (a marathon prediction off low mileage runs optimistic). That’s the gap Shed fills — it grounds VDOT in your ongoing training, not one result.