VDOT is a measure devised by coach Jack Daniels that turns a race performance into one number representing your current running fitness. From your VDOT, you can read off the right paces for easy runs, marathon pace, threshold (tempo), interval and repetition work. It accounts for both your VO2 max and your running economy, so two runners with the same VO2 max but different efficiency can have different VDOT scores.
Key points
- Derived from a race time
- Maps to all your training paces
- Combines VO2 max and running economy
- Track it over a season to measure progress