Lactate Threshold Training.

Lactate threshold is defined as:

”The point during exercise of increasing intensity at which blood lactate begins to accumulate above resting levels, where lactate clearance is no longer able to keep up with lactate production.”

Training in the lactate threshold zone will help improve your endurance and then your performance times. Having a better LT will enable you to push your time trial harder, beat your time up the hills, drive that final sprint from 50 meters further out. so how do we go about training our LT.

well before we can get to training let me discuss exactly what LT is and the role it plays in fatigue and performance.

What is Lactic Acid

LA is an acid that is the result of anaerobic respiration in muscles and red blood cells. what this means is that glycogen is used as an energy source rather than oxygen. LA is then converted back into glycogen in the liver after it passes through the blood stream. The burn we feel in our legs is a sensation caused by the acidic nature of LA.

each individual has different LT values, as the intensity level of exercise increases so does the production of LA, this then filters into the blood stream and is passed through the liver. There comes an intensity level where the blood stream cant pass all the LA quickly enough to the liver and at this point you will begin to feel the burn. as you increase intensity the burn will get greater and greater until you reach a point that you can no longer stand. with the increase in LA so increases the rate at which you will fatigue. so you can find a fine line where the burn is not too bad and the level of fatigue is enough to get you to the “finish line” we often find that while out doing a TT we will sit right on the limit. FTP tests are usually done just under your blow out lactate level. this point is sometimes referred to as anaerobic threshold. its is a common guesstimate to assume that your anaerobic threshold is somewhere between 92% and 96% of your maximum heart rate. However max heart rate is always a difficult number to work out and sometimes can lead to inaccurate results for AT. Using power we can assume that AT is about FTP + 20%

So basically from this information we can see that the higher/better our lactate threshold is the longer/faster/harder we are going to ride.

Training

There is really only one way to increase your LT and that is by busting out intervals. Yes i used the dreaded “i” word but it has been proved the best method. We need to push ourselves into the anaerobic training zone for a given time, recover and then do it again. reps will depend on intensity and personal ability. There are a number of ways we can do this.

Hills:

If you have a nice 3 or so km hill that is about 7 to 8% we can utilize it. If you are using heart rate then ride at 92 to 96% for 5 minutes. turn around come back down rest and actively recover for 3 minutes and then do it again. If you are using power then you need to push your FTP + 20 % for the same time and the same amount of reps. these should be done no more than three times a week as a addition to your regular training session.

Flats:

The concept is the same as on the hills. only difference is that you will be rolling a higher cadence. this will help push the lactate around the body a bit faster so you will need to push the limits a little harder. The best way to do this is to increase the length of the intervals rather than the intensity. i recommend 8 minutes but still take a 3 minute rest.

the same intervals can be reproduced using an indoor trainer

over time you will find that you can maintain the burn for longer. this will be due to increased muscles resistance to the LA and the increase in aerobic ability. If you are doing your intervals based on power ensure that you check your FTP so that you can continue to train at the correct intensity

This post is tagged Burn, lactate, Racing, Training