Daniels "Current Race Ability"

just predict it i guess

Yeah I would say just turn to the equivalent performance tables at the end of the book, and see what 5k time corresponds to a 2:04 800m run. Also take into consideration the time you run in your road race. Your current race ability is probably somewhere between those two numbers.

Whatever the tables tell you a 2:04 800m is equal to, bump up a few rows because of your youth. Why? The 5k is much more of a distance event, and you don't have the aerobic base to put up an "equivalent" 5k time....YET!

the dude with the funny hat wrote:

Your current race ability is probably somewhere between those two numbers.

That sounds about right. Remember, Daniels' 5k times are TRACK 5ks. As always, the charts are JUST a guide. If the chart says your T-pace is 5:50/mile but you can't catch your breath after a few 1200s at that pace...it's too fast! back off. Threshold should feel like threshold. Sounds dumb, but a lot of people forget it!

i have used Daniel's charts for years but i have deviated from using my best VDOT for all training paces. being a mid-d guy i always struggled at my equivilent interval and threshold paces and bc of that i hated those workouts and did them less often. once i started training each system at that systems' current VDOT, i started to get in better workouts and improved greatly over the longer stuff (ie: reps are based off of mile time. intervals are based off of 2mile-5k. threshold is based off of 10k-half marathon. i call this my aerobic curve.

i have applied this to all my athletes (middle, high school, and college) i coach and i have seen awesome breakthroughs in almost every kid.

obviously, the idea is to have only a slight curve or flat line (over time) but many will have different abilities that allow them to reach a certain performance. i believe that this allows for those individual differences to be minimized over time.

if uncertain of your VDOT for an event i would just work down. Complete one workout at a pace where you feel very comfortable in your ability to achieve. if you follow Daniels workout work:rest:duration rules you will be able to figure out within a few workouts where you are at.

for example

Rep workouts pace =63 VDOT - based on 4:42 mile/ 2:04 800m

I = 60 - 17:03 5k

T = 58 - 36:24 10k

I didn't realize his 5K times are based on track performances. What about 10Ks? Could it also be for the half-marathon and marathon too? Somehow this doesn't make sense.

I always assumed the 5Ks and above were based on ideal (i.e. very fast) road courses which presumably yield times quite similar to track times.

Yeah Daniels wants the controls to be precise!

The times best predict the training intensities on a similar training terrain. so XC=XC, road=road, track=track. use your best judgement to adjust between variables.