Nutrition - Weight Loss

Unless you have a room at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, there's probably a lot of guesswork that goes into your training. How often to do hills? When to stretch, and for how long? What kind of recovery to take between hard runs? Thanks to Jack Daniels, Ph.D., renowned coach and exercise physiologist, one thing that won't require guesswork anymore is your training speed. All you need to know is your VDOT number, a measurement Daniels came up with to reflect a runner's fitness level. Specifically, your VDOT is the amount of oxygen you consume during a minute of running. (VDOT is actually shorthand for "V-dot-O2 max," but don't worry, we won't go there.) This number, or value, can be determined in a research lab for a small fortune--or you can determine your VDOT from your recent race times. A 50-minute 10-K time, for example, corresponds to a VDOT number of 40. The faster the race time, the higher the fitness level, the higher the VDOT.

But here's the best part: You can use your VDOT to determine precisely how fast you should do your training runs. That's because at every level of fitness, according to Daniels, there are particular training speeds that provide optimal benefit. Daniels goes into detail on this in his new book, Daniels' Running Formula, but in "What's Your VDOT?," we've made it easy for you by focusing on the three most important training speeds: easy pace, tempo pace, and interval pace.

Once you find your VDOT number and optimal training paces, consult our six-week VDOT-based 5-K training program so you can put theory into practice.

It's the essence of customized training, and it works.

Shoes & Gear

A true gentleman scholar, Jack Daniels medaled twice in the modern pentathlon at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, studied sport in Sweden, once coached the Peruvian national distance team, and in 2000 was named NCAA Division III women's cross-country coach of the 20th century after a stellar career at SUNY-Cortland. He now coaches elite runners on the Nike Farm Team. Daniels, 71 years old, now lives in Cortland, New York, and has been contributing to Runner's World for more than two decades.

Exercises to Improve Your Running Speed

1) Look for your most recent race time in one of the columns on the left, then move across to the middle to find your VDOT number. (If you've run more than one race distance lately and your corresponding VDOTs aren't the same, use the higher one.)

2) From your VDOT number, look across the table to find the training paces you should run for your EASY, TEMPO, and INTERVAL workouts. Easy workouts will strengthen your running muscles. Tempo workouts will boost your lactate threshold, meaning you'll be able to run faster for longer. Interval sessions will increase your VO2 max level, which will enable your body to process oxygen more efficiently. Note: Interval pace is given in per-400-meter pace below; 400 meters is roughly equivalent to a quarter-mile, or once around a standard running track.

Now it's time to try your own VDOT-based training program for a 5-K, the most popular race distance. VDOT training will likely be new for you, so best to start with a short race that will only take six weeks to train for. If it works, use your VDOT training paces when you train for longer distances as well.

Work up to it

1) All About 75 Hard. You should be running at least 15 miles per week before starting this program. Total beginners should work up to this amount by running three or four times a week for three or four miles at a time, mixing in periodic walk breaks when needed.

2) miles easy or rest. With Tuesday intervals, consider doing your first several repeats at slightly slower than VDOT-interval pace, then do your final one to two repeats at slightly faster than interval pace. This will teach you to finish your runs and races strong.

3) Run comfortably hard. Thursday tempo workouts shouldn't leave you exhausted. The first half of the workout should feel very doable, even easy, with things only getting "interesting" at the end of the session.

4) Consider your options. Wednesdays are your "option" days. If you feel fine after Tuesday intervals, go three miles easy. If you feel fatigued or simply want to be sure you're ready and rested for tempo on Thursday, take Wednesday off.

5) The Ultimate Guide to HIIT for Runners. Do your Sunday long runs at the same pace as your easy days. The point here is to build endurance, which will come in handy as you enter the third mile of your 5-K goal race.

6) Be wary. If you feel unusual fatigue for two or three consecutive days, take two rest days in a row, and skip your next (planned) quality workout, whether that's an interval or tempo session. Same thing with pain. If something doesn't feel right and stays with you more than a day, shut it down for two days, and come back with a couple days of easy running.

7) Shoes & Gear. Be diligent about your taper the week before your race. That means a couple extra days of rest, dropping down to 200-meter repeats rather than 400 meters, and changing the Thursday tempo run to easy running and strides.

8) Race smart. On race day, follow the same routine as on your interval days. That is, jog easily for 10 minutes, stretch, and finish with four 100-meter pickups just before the start. When the gun sounds, you should be loose, and your heart rate should be elevated. Run the first mile slightly slower than your goal pace, the middle mile at race pace, and the final mile a little faster than race pace.