VOE is Sequorr’s algorithm for determining your race predictions, training paces, and training plans, all calibrated to your current fitness. It reads how you actually run, estimates the aerobic fitness behind it, and boils that down to one number. Your race predictions, your training paces, your threshold pace, and the paces in your training plan all trace back to it.
You won’t see the letters VOE in the app. You’ll see what it produces. This article covers what VOE is, how Sequorr calculates it from your runs, and where it shows up: race predictions, four training paces, your thresholds and heart-rate zones, and your training plan.
What Sequorr VOE Actually Is
VOE is an estimate of your effective VO2max: the aerobic fitness your running shows, rather than what a lab test would measure.
Lab VO2max measures how much oxygen your body can use. VOE measures how fast that fitness actually carries you, so running economy and pacing are already baked in. Two runners with the same lab number can have different VOEs, and VOE is the one that predicts their race times.
VOE is also separate from the VO2max your watch reports. If your watch shares its own VO2max with Sequorr, it appears in the Engine section of Running Fitness. VOE is Sequorr’s own estimate, calculated from your runs, and it’s the one that drives your predictions and paces.
For most runners, VOE falls between about 30 and 70. Some reference points:
- A 30:00 5K is a VOE of about 31.
- A 20:00 5K is about 50.
- A 3:00 marathon is about 53.
- A sub-14:00 5K is above 75.
How Sequorr Calculates Your VOE
You don’t enter anything. Sequorr calculates VOE from the runs you log, and it starts with your best 5 minutes.
A training run’s best 5 minutes isn’t always an all-out effort, so that first number is a floor. If you run with a heart-rate monitor, Sequorr adds a second check. It plots your pace against your heart rate across your runs and reads the pace you’d hold at your threshold heart rate. If that line shows more fitness than your best 5 minutes did, VOE moves up to match, by up to 25%. That way a steady runner who rarely runs hard still gets an honest number.
A few things to know:
- It needs three runs. Race predictions and training paces appear once you have three qualifying runs: 15 minutes or longer, logged as a run.
- It updates on its own. VOE recalculates every time you save a run, and again overnight.
- It’s a six-week number. A hard effort counts toward VOE for 42 days. After that it drops out, so VOE follows your current fitness, not your best-ever race.
- GPS makes it sharper. Without a GPS route, as on a treadmill, Sequorr uses your average pace instead, and marks your predictions and paces Estimate until a GPS run comes in.
- You can override it. Set your own threshold pace on Running Fitness and Sequorr uses the VOE that pace implies instead.
Your Training Paces
From your VOE, Sequorr works backward to pace. For each training intensity, it takes a share of your VOE and works out the pace that matches it. Running Fitness shows four:
Easy: 59–74% of VOE
Where most of your weekly running should happen. Easy pace builds your aerobic base. It should feel conversational, relaxed, and sustainable for a long time. If you’re breathing hard, you’re above Easy.
Marathon: 75–84% of VOE
The pace you’d target for a marathon. Harder than Easy but still controlled, and the right effort for the steady miles inside a long run.
Threshold: 83–88% of VOE
Your threshold: the fastest pace you could hold for about an hour. Threshold work teaches your body to clear lactate. Classic sessions are a 20-minute tempo run or cruise intervals. It should feel comfortably hard.
Interval: 95–100% of VOE
Pace at the top of your aerobic range, used to push your VO2max higher. Think 3 to 5 minute repeats with recovery jogs between them, every rep at the same pace.
Here’s what the app shows for a runner with a VOE of 45:
| Pace | Range |
|---|---|
| Easy | 8:34–10:16 /mi |
| Marathon | 7:44–8:29 /mi |
| Threshold | 7:27–7:49 /mi |
| Interval | 6:43–7:00 /mi |
Race Predictions
VOE also predicts your race times. The longer a race lasts, the smaller the share of your aerobic capacity you can hold, so Sequorr solves for the finish time at each distance that matches your VOE.
At a VOE of 45, that’s about:
| Race | Predicted time |
|---|---|
| 5K | 21:49 |
| 10K | 45:13 |
| Half marathon | 1:40:14 |
| Marathon | 3:28:16 |
Running Fitness shows predictions for the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. They assume you’ve trained for the distance. A runner with a strong 5K and no long runs won’t hit the marathon prediction until the mileage catches up.
Thresholds and Heart-Rate Zones
Running Fitness also shows two thresholds:
- Threshold pace comes from your VOE, at the middle of the Threshold band. At a VOE of 45, that’s about 4:44 per kilometer, or 7:38 per mile.
- Threshold heart rate comes from your heart rate, not your pace. Sequorr starts with an estimate from your age when you sign up, then reads it from your workouts: about 95% of your average heart rate on your hardest run, walk, or hike of 20 minutes or more. It only moves up as your training shows it.
You can tap either one to set your own, say from a field test. Here’s how to find your threshold heart rate. Tap Use Sequorr’s estimate to go back.
Your five heart-rate zones are built from your threshold heart rate:
| Zone | % of threshold HR | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | 60–72% | Active recovery |
| Zone 2 | 72–82% | Aerobic base |
| Zone 3 | 82–90% | Aerobic power |
| Zone 4 | 90–100% | Lactate threshold |
| Zone 5 | 100–115% | Speed / sprint |
Pace and heart rate are two views of the same effort. Your paces come from VOE. Your zones come from your heart. Sequorr gives you both, so you can train by whichever one fits the day.
From Paces to a Plan
Paces are only useful when they’re attached to sessions. Sequorr’s training plan builder turns your VOE into a full block of training for a race.
You can build a plan three ways: From a race, using a race you’ve saved in Sequorr Findrr; a Quick plan; or Full custom. Then you tell Sequorr:
- Your level: Just starting, Beginner, Advanced, or Athlete. This sets your starting and peak mileage and how many hard sessions you get each week.
- Your week: how many days you run (3 to 7), which day is your long run, and your peak weekly mileage.
- A goal time, if you have one. Sequorr checks it against your current fitness and tells you whether it’s comfortable, realistic, ambitious, or a stretch.
Sequorr builds a plan of 6 to 20 weeks, depending on how far away your race is. Mileage builds through base and build phases with regular lighter weeks, peaks, then tapers into race day: one taper week for a 5K or 10K, two for a half or full marathon. Your long run is at Easy pace. Tempo runs are at Threshold pace. Later in the plan, short repeats run at Interval pace. Every target pace comes from your VOE on the day you build the plan.
It’s Free
Your VOE, training paces, race predictions, thresholds, heart-rate zones, and training plan are core features for every Sequorr user. There’s no premium tier between you and your training.
