Recently I was looking around for some running calculators to help me determine what pace I should training at and what my mile splits should be for an up coming race.

In researching that I came across the concept of VDOT. Which is a term formulated by Jack Daniels (world famous coach, called “The World’s Best Coach” by Runner’s World magazine) that is a shortened form of the well known V̇O2max. VDOT is properly stated/short for “V-dot-O2max”. With this a runner can find his VDOT value which then can be used to determine an “equivalent performance” at a different race distance. Thus is can also be used to determine training paces for athletes.

It’s actually an interesting concept and I’ve spent some time researching it and playing around with the VDOT value and resultant training and race paces that can be calculated from it. I’ve found it to be pretty accurate. When I take my recent 5k time and use that to calculate my VDOT and then find my resultant Marathon pace according to my VDOT it actually gives me the time I normally finish my marathon in. I’ve also noticed my calculated training pace according to my VDOT is about the same pace I usually run in my workouts (including speed workouts).

So how do you calculate your VDOT and find out your equivalent performance for different distances and what pace you should be training at? Well luckly you don’t need to know the formula or make any calculations to get the answers. But you should take a read through coach Jack Daniels’ book Daniels’ Running Formula to get a better understanding of it.

But for those of us who would like a quick and simply way to get the answers take a look over this free calculator from the guys over at runbayou.com, VDOT Calculator.

It might not be the fanciest looking thing but it will definitely give you the answers you’re looking for. There site also has some great info on running and how to properly train for long distance running.

Next we have a pace calculator by Cool Running. It’s a simple and easy to use calculator that gives you your pace for what ever target/goal time and distance you put into it. So check out there pace calculator.

Another great calculator is Rob Klima’s marathon pace calculator that calculates for fade. This is a great tool to give you a realistic pace per mile you should be running based on fading during the race, cause we all know when you hit the wall it hurts! So check out there marathon pace calculator.

Honorable mention: Running World’s pace and training calculator is also a pretty useful tool that I thought I’d better mention. There tool not only calculates your race pace but also gives you a workout plan for training based off the pace you enter in. Check out their training calculator to see what I mean.