It is not clear from neither the book nor the above web page how these aerobic/anaerobic
capabilities are computed for running/cycling and without this proprietary software and
database.
Since I wrote the webpage you referenced, I will try to clarify any questions you have about the availability of software. I do not have access to any software to estimate either aerobic or anaerobic capacity but know of three who do. One of which has responded here.
Determining anaerobic capacity exactly is a difficult task. The three people I referred to are doing it routinely and very successfully but use their own proprietary software. We just had a video produced that describes in a simplistic fashion what we think is the best way to go about it. It is meant for people without appropriate software.
http://bit.ly/2mXr9YS
We then wrote a webpage that tried to explain the video in a little more detail. (there are some minor issues with the video that will have to be changed in the future but nothing that is problematic)
http://www.lactate.com/video/index.html
We know from correspondence that all will not agree. From your comments, you seem to understand the basic issues while some other commenters here do not.
No where do we ever say that 4.0 is the threshold. We in fact say several times that it is not. Many do not seem to understand this.
The 4.0 mmol/l measure will correlate with the threshold and is highly predictive of future performance. One of its values is that it is easy to measure so why do some elaborate and difficult other testing to estimate a threshold, especially when you can learn a lot more besides just the estimate of a threshold. We have a page on the lactate threshold that is very detailed and on that we define the threshold as the maximum lactate steady state which can often be far away from 4.0 mmol/l.
http://www.lactate.com/lactate_threshold.html
The main value for knowing the 4.0 number is that any training that moves the threshold will move the 4.0 measure in the same direction as the threshold. So this simple measure is a report card of how well your training is working in terms of changing the threshold.
Training is key and lactate testing (4.0 measure) is a very good indication of how well one’s training is working. But the 4.0 measure does not tell you much about the anaerobic system which will also affect the threshold. For that you need another test.
So one of the key uses of lactate testing is that it is a report card on how well your training is doing and the test for this is relatively simple and reliable.
The two other important uses for lactate testing are
it is a window into the metabolism of the athlete and what is behind the current conditioning level.
it is a way of setting training paces to change the current conditioning level, hopefully in a positive direction
It seems this last use is the only thing that most are interested in. However, lactate testing if used and understood will tell you a lot more.
One of the three people has their software available for use by anyone who is interested. See
http://bit.ly/2aoQmXa
for System Based Training.
Another is in the process of having his software available, hopefully, soon. That is Sebastian Weber who has been working with Tour de France cyclists for over 10 years. When it becomes available, we will post it on our website.
The third is Jan Olbrecht who works mainly with swimmers but currently works with Luc van Lierde in Belgium in the training of triathletes. Jan was Luc’s training adviser taking him from an age group swimmer to Ironman world champion. There are about a half dozen triathletes in the US, mostly in California who are working remotely with van Lierde and through him, Jan.
Jan was recently in the US at the University of Tennessee presenting his ideas mainly to swim coaches. Here is a page we wrote on this presentation
http://bit.ly/2lUqov8
Hope this provides some additional information on this topic.