Training pace chart

How the training pace chart works

Enter a recent race and the tool converts it into a fitness score called VDOT, then into the paces you should run at different intensities. VDOT comes from the work of coach and exercise physiologist Jack Daniels, together with Jimmy Gilbert. It isn't a lab measurement of your VO₂max. Instead it is the VO₂max a runner would need to produce your race result, which makes it a practical measure of current ability.

Two equations do the work. The first estimates the oxygen cost of running at a given speed, and the second estimates what share of VO₂max a runner can sustain for the duration of your race. Dividing one by the other gives your VDOT. Each training pace is then the speed that costs a set share of that VDOT.

The five paces

• Easy (about 62–74% of VDOT): conversational running for most of your weeks, long runs and recovery. It's fine to run slower than the range.
• Marathon (about 84%): your goal marathon effort for long steady blocks.
• Tempo (about 88%): threshold running that feels comfortably hard, for 20 to 40 minutes in one block or split into cruise intervals.
• Interval (about 98%): hard reps of 3 to 5 minutes with equal-time jog recovery.
• Repetition (about 110%): fast, relaxed reps of 200 to 400 meters with full recovery, for speed and form.

The 400 m column shows the lap time for that pace on the track.

Limits

• The paces are only as good as the race behind them. Use a recent, honest race effort at its true distance.
• This tool uses the VDOT equations with fixed intensity percentages, so results can differ by a few seconds from the published Daniels tables.
• Hills, heat and wind change the right pace. Run hard sessions by effort on rough days.
• A marathon result can understate fitness if you were under-trained for the distance, and a short race can overstate it for a runner built for endurance. If results look off, try another recent race.

Want a goal-race estimate instead? Use the race predictor.