Lactate Threshold
December 11th, 2007 , 9:13 am by Michelle Halsne
For those who inquired:
This is my lay-mans explanation for Lactate threshold. When you push your body beyond a comfortable pace and are working in the 75-80% max rate the body produces lactate. This is naturally occurring bi-product of glucose break down or energy usage.
During lower intensity workouts lactate in the blood streams stays relatively equal to rest. Taking your body into lactate threshold basically means producing more lactate than then body can rid itself of during the exercise period.
Why do we care about this lactate threshold? Because it is part of the physiological matrix that helps indicate performance ability. It is the com-padre of Vo2Max.
Increasing the bodies lactate threshold is doable and important for improvement. An untrained individual will have a lactate threshold of about 50 % of the Vo2 Max, meaning at half your max heart rate your body begins the fatiguing processes. For an elite runner this happens at about 80 % and can be sustained longer.
So the average runner, if they want to improve must go beyond the comfort zone and feel the fatigue and make a conscious decision to continue running for a few more minutes as the fatigue settles in. This is why I am a big a proponent of tempo runs and speed-work outs. To me they are as important as the long slow distance (LSD).
So my lactate threshold workouts include 1/2 mile repeats with recovery in between (but not full recovery). This can be accomplished on the treadmill or on a track.
So lets all go out find our lactate threshold and go just a little beyond.
Filed under Blogroll, General Cardio, Run
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December 11th, 2007 , 9:17 am
That’s really interesting. thanks for sharing it!
December 11th, 2007 , 6:47 pm
A friend of mine had a blood lactate test. Her finger was pricked at various heart rates and tested for lactate. She discovered that 140 HR was her lactate threshold. Since she was training for an ironman, she needed to train below lactate threshold for the majority of her training so that she wouldn’t burn out and could keep moving for 16 hours. She wasn’t trying to set any records, her goal was to finish.
I agree that increasing the LT improves performance. If you can work at a higher HR without lactate build up (which is basically oxygen debt, not enough O2 getting to the muscles) then you can run faster. Building the aerobic base is necessary. That means doing work below LT. Increasing LT is equally as important for performance. It takes both types of workouts to be successful for the long stuff.