Inside Marathon Nation, we define fitness as your body’s ability to do work. Specifically, the work required of your muscles to move your body down the road at a given pace.

The faster you want to run, the more work you need to do…it’s that simple!

We benchmark your fitness at given intervals using 5k / 3.1-mile tests inserted at critical points of each training cycle.  The results of these tests are integrated using zones from Jack Daniels’ Running Formula, ensuring that each workout is focused and appropriate for your fitness.

And since these same paces map to your goal race, every workout is a step towards race day success!

Background

The proven training architecture of renown running coach and legend Jack Daniels provides the foundation for our approach to long distance run training and racing. His revolutionary quanitfication of pace into a vDOT number enables runners to determine equivalent performances at other distances based on a single test or race result. Our modified version includes Half Marathon pacing and a race time projection tool based on our coaching experience.

Next Steps

Simply use the process outlined below (or skip right to the Calculator here) to determine your vDOT, calculate your training paces, and save them into your profile so they sync with your daily workouts!

Here are the Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Complete a 5k test as outlined in Step 2. If you choose to use a 5k race result, it must be from the last three months to be applicable.
2. Go to the Calculator and enter the distance (meters or miles) and time for the test.
3. Click “Calculate vDOT” to generate a vDOT for you.
4. You will see a table of zones / paces, copy the appropriate zones into the table below. Please Note: If you can’t use the table below, download a table here as a word document.
5. Since you do not have a half marathon pace, take the “vDOT equivalent” Half Marathon finish time from the table on the right side of the AttackPoint page.
6. Go to this Pace Calculator and enter the time, select the “Half Marathon” event, and click “Calculate Pace” — this is your z3 / HMP pace per mile.
7. Enter this into the Zone 3 / HMP line below and you are done!

Congratulations….now you have your training paces! We recommend that you print this out for future reference — after all you’ll need these zones for each and every workout

Good luck!

~ The MN Team

Important Links for Your MN Plan Experience

• MN on Facebook for Support: www.facebook.com/marathonnation
• Coach Patrick on Twitter for Support: www.twitter.com/pmccrann
• The MN Plan Quickstart Guide