VDOT and VO2max Estimator: free VDOT calculator.
Enter a recent race. Get your VDOT and the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon times it predicts.
Your VDOT
From a 25:00 5K
VDOT
38.3
A performance estimate, not a lab VO2max. It folds your running economy into the number, because it comes from how you race.
Daniels 2022Equivalent race times
Daniels 2022- 5KYour race25:005:00 /km
- 10KSame VDOT51:535:11 /km
- Half marathonSame VDOT1:55:045:27 /km
- MarathonSame VDOT3:57:555:38 /km
These assume you train for the distance. A marathon also needs the long runs and the fueling to match.
Hand it to your AI
Your AI can check these numbers against your training and adjust them. The prompt has your results filled in.
See the prompt
I recently ran a 5K in 25:00. The Daniels and Gilbert equations give me a VDOT of 38.3, with equivalent times of 10K 51:53, Half marathon 1:55:04, Marathon 3:57:55. VDOT is a performance estimate, not a lab VO2max. Look at my recent training and set my easy, threshold and interval paces from it, and tell me which race time is realistic for me now.
Gemini, Grok Bot, Dots, Muse and Cue: copy the prompt and paste it in.
Your AI could set your training paces from this. Join Memory.fit.
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How it works
How the VDOT and VO2max Estimator works.
VDOT is coach Jack Daniels' way of turning one race into one fitness number. He and Jimmy Gilbert built two equations from runners' data: how much oxygen it costs to run at a given speed, and what share of your maximum you can hold for a given time. Divide the first by the second and you get VDOT.
It reads like a VO2max, in ml of oxygen per kilogram per minute, but it is a performance estimate, not a lab test. It folds your running economy into the number, so two runners with the same lab VO2max can have different VDOTs. That is what makes it useful for pacing: it comes from how you actually race.
For equivalent times, the calculator solves the same equations backward for each distance at your VDOT. The results match the published VDOT tables to within 0.2%, a second or two on a 5K. Far from typical values, treat the number as a rough guide. A marathon time also assumes you have done the training for the marathon.
The formula
- oxygen cost = −4.60 + 0.182258 v + 0.000104 v² (v = speed in meters per minute)
- share of max = 0.8 + 0.1894393 e^(−0.012778 t) + 0.2989558 e^(−0.1932605 t) (t = time in minutes)
- VDOT = oxygen cost ÷ share of max
The science
Where the numbers come from.
Every number on this page links to the paper it comes from. How Memory.fit uses the science
Daniels J. Daniels' Running Formula, 4th edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2022. ISBN 978-1-7182-0366-2.
Book · 2022 · Read it
Example
A worked example.
A runner who just ran a 25:00 5K.
- 15,000 m in 25 minutes is 200 m a minute. Running at that speed costs 36.0 ml of oxygen per kg per minute.
- 2A 25 minute race is held at about 94% of your maximum. 36.0 ÷ 0.94 = VDOT 38.3.
- 3Solved back at VDOT 38.3: a 10K in 51:53, a half marathon in 1:55:04 and a marathon in 3:57:55, or 5:38 per km.
- 4The Riegel formula gives 3:59:47 for the same 5K. Both assume you train for the marathon.
Questions
VDOT and VO2max Estimator: questions.
A fitness number worked out from a race result, from Daniels' Running Formula. Runners use it to compare races over different distances and to set their training paces.
No. A lab VO2max measures the most oxygen you can use. VDOT is worked out from a race, so it also carries your running economy and how well you raced. Treat it as a performance estimate, not a lab number.
About 49.8. The same VDOT predicts a 41:28 10K, a 1:31:50 half marathon and a 3:11:17 marathon, if you train for each distance.
A 1:45:00 half marathon is VDOT 42.6, which predicts a 3:37:50 marathon. Riegel's formula gives about 3:39. Many runners land a few minutes slower in their first marathon.
A recent race, run all out, on a flat course. A hilly course, heat or a race you ran easy will give you a lower VDOT than your real fitness.
Not medical advice. These numbers come from published research on groups of athletes. Your own needs can differ; talk to a doctor or a sports dietitian about any health condition.