But it is a lot of medals. Olbrecht after getting his PhD started working with local swim clubs in Belgium. One of the swimmers he worked with was Luc van Lierde who asked Jan if he could help him become a triathlete. About 10 years later he won Kona in 1996. Just before that success Jan approached a top Dutch swimming coach to see if he would be interested in trying his approach. Incredible success followed. In the last Olympics swimmers advised by Jan went gold and silver in the 100m free. He also advised the swimmer winning the open water 10,000m gold.

So is it correlation or causation? Or both? Those interested should examine the rationale behind the approach. Judge for yourself. The rationale is a theory that posits that the two energy systems are interrelated in the sense that changes in one will affect how much the other is used. For example, increasing aerobic capacity will lower glycolytic use and thus lower lactate produced. Lowering anaerobic capacity will lower glycolytic use and thus lower lactate produced. Both of these very different changes in metabolism will increase the threshold.



There are several links to Sebastian Weber on this thread that will help understand the rationale. Another good place is a long article we have on our website about the Lactate Threshold. The rationale is discussed there. http://bit.ly/2gHumG2

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Jerry Cosgrove

Sports Resource Group
http://www.lactate.com
https://twitter.com/@LactatedotCom