VDOT Calculator
Enter a recent race result and get your VDOT score, all five Daniels training paces, and equivalent times from 5K to the marathon — instantly, in min/mi or min/km. Free, no signup, runs entirely in your browser.
Your training paces
Equivalent race times
What is VDOT?
VDOT is the single fitness score at the heart of Jack Daniels' Running Formula, and the engine behind every number on this page. The name is shorthand for V̇O2max — oxygen uptake per minute — but VDOT is deliberately not the lab measurement. Instead of strapping you to a metabolic cart, it works backwards from something more honest: a race you actually ran. That matters because two runners with identical lab VO2max values rarely finish together — one of them converts oxygen into forward motion more efficiently. By deriving the score from a real performance, VDOT folds that running economy in automatically, which is why Daniels called it your effective VO2max.
The payoff is precision. One number sets all five of your training paces — easy, marathon, threshold, interval and repetition — so a 20:00 5K (VDOT 49.8) prescribes threshold work at 6:52 per mile instead of "comfortably hard, more or less". And because every distance maps onto the same scale, the same score predicts your equivalent race times: that 20:00 5K runner projects to roughly 41:28 for 10K and 3:11 for a properly-trained marathon. For context, a 30:00 5K lands near VDOT 31, and elite marathoners sit around 75–85.
Training paces by VDOT
Already know your VDOT, or just want a feel for how the paces scale? The table below shows all six paces at whole-VDOT steps from 30 to 65, computed with the same formulas the calculator above runs. Use the units toggle in the calculator to switch between min/mi and min/km.
| VDOT | Easy | Marathon | Threshold | Interval | Repetition | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 12:19 | 11:03 | 10:18 | 9:32 | 8:57 | 14:46 |
| 35 | 10:56 | 9:46 | 9:07 | 8:26 | 7:55 | 13:09 |
| 40 | 9:50 | 8:45 | 8:12 | 7:35 | 7:06 | 11:53 |
| 45 | 8:57 | 7:57 | 7:27 | 6:53 | 6:28 | 10:50 |
| 50 | 8:14 | 7:16 | 6:51 | 6:20 | 5:56 | 9:59 |
| 55 | 7:38 | 6:43 | 6:20 | 5:51 | 5:29 | 9:15 |
| 60 | 7:06 | 6:14 | 5:54 | 5:27 | 5:07 | 8:38 |
| 65 | 6:40 | 5:49 | 5:32 | 5:07 | 4:48 | 8:06 |
| VDOT | Easy | Marathon | Threshold | Interval | Repetition | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 7:39 | 6:52 | 6:24 | 5:56 | 5:34 | 9:11 |
| 35 | 6:47 | 6:04 | 5:40 | 5:15 | 4:55 | 8:11 |
| 40 | 6:07 | 5:27 | 5:06 | 4:43 | 4:25 | 7:23 |
| 45 | 5:34 | 4:56 | 4:38 | 4:17 | 4:01 | 6:44 |
| 50 | 5:07 | 4:31 | 4:15 | 3:56 | 3:41 | 6:12 |
| 55 | 4:44 | 4:10 | 3:56 | 3:38 | 3:25 | 5:45 |
| 60 | 4:25 | 3:52 | 3:40 | 3:23 | 3:11 | 5:22 |
| 65 | 4:08 | 3:37 | 3:26 | 3:11 | 2:59 | 5:02 |
Two notes on the numbers. Easy pace is a range, not a point — Daniels defines it as 59–74% of VO2max — and the table shows the 70% midpoint of that range; the calculator above shows the full spread. And because these tables are computed by inverting the Daniels formulas at exact whole VDOT values, a couple of cells differ by ±1 second from older printed tables, whose rows quantize to whole VDOTs: the formulas give 19:56 / 3:10:40 at exactly VDOT 50 where 1990s-era printed rows say 19:57 / 3:10:49. That's rounding, not a different model.
FAQ
It depends entirely on where you're starting from. A 30:00 5K lands near VDOT 31, a 22:30 5K around 43, and a 20:00 5K works out to 49.8 — solid club-runner territory. Competitive amateurs typically sit in the 55–65 band, and elite marathoners around 75–85. The more useful question is direction: a VDOT that climbs a point or two over a training block means your fitness is genuinely improving, whatever the absolute number says.
No, and the difference is the point. Lab-measured VO2max tells you how much oxygen your body can take in and use; it says nothing about how efficiently you turn that oxygen into speed. VDOT is computed from a race you actually ran, so running economy is baked into the score automatically. Two runners with identical lab values can carry quite different VDOTs — and for setting training paces, the race-derived number is the one that matters.
Every number on this page is computed directly from the published Daniels–Gilbert formulas, while printed tables quantize each row to a whole VDOT and round at a different step. At exactly VDOT 50 the formulas give a 19:56 5K and a 3:10:40 marathon where 1990s-era printed rows show 19:57 and 3:10:49. Other calculators make slightly different rounding choices of their own. It's the same model with ±1-second rounding differences — not different math.
Your most recent all-out effort — ideally a race from the last six to eight weeks, because the score should reflect what you can do now, not what you could once do. A hard parkrun counts. Prefer a distance you've actually been training for: Daniels' own caveat is that predictions assume appropriate training for the target distance, so a fresh 5K PR tells you your marathon potential, not what an untrained-for marathon will produce on the day.
Every six to eight weeks is a sensible rhythm, or whenever you race. A tune-up race, a parkrun, or an honest solo time trial all work. If the new result moves your VDOT, update your training paces to match — a score that lags your real fitness leaves quality sessions too easy to drive adaptation, while one that flatters you turns every easy day into a grind.
Methodology based on Daniels' Running Formula (Jack Daniels & Jimmy Gilbert). This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors. Every number on this page is computed from our own implementation of the published formulas — nothing is transcribed from the book's tables.
Your paces, recalculated every week.
This page is the static version of the math. The Why Not app runs the same Daniels VDOT engine after every run you log — tightening your paces as you get fitter, easing off when you're cooked, and rebuilding your plan when life gets in the way.
Try Why Not free for 7 days