I am more convinced than ever that a athlete who trains at there current Vdot number will have a advantage over the person who does not. The advantage they will have is that they will be working at there current fitness level to improve,without the danger of over training and injury.
I have for the last four years trained at my current Vdot level,and even at my old age I have improved my race times without injury. What Vdot is and what it is not,it is not age or gender related,it is not the number you see on the result sheets and shown as a percentage,that is based on age and gender. VDOT is VO2MAX turned into a simple number,you could go to lab and get a series of tests run on yourself to measure your VO2MAX, running economy,and lactate threshold,but that would cost you a lot of money.
How to get your current VDOT. Google VDOT calculator put in your current race time from 1500m to the marathon you will get a number this is your current VDOT on the right hand side you will see the pace you should train at. This is not a fixed number this will go up as you get fitter,or come down if you have been naughty,and have over trained or under trained. So every one has a VDOT number from a 29min 5k runner VDOT 30,to Mo Farah’s sub 13mins 5k VDOT 84,that’s a VDOT to aim for. In my hay day i would have had a VDOT of 62,now it is 42,but the good news for all is i have taken mine up from 39 to 42 in a couple of years without injury.
John Smithurst.