Trying to come up with a lactate test protocol meaningful to design my zones for the next season, building up from two 70.3 races to the California 140.6 in October.
I’ve found numerous protocols on the interwebs but none of them talks about Body Core Temp on a Lactate Test Protocol
Given the fact that I invest a lot of time doing heat protocol training (live in THE most humid country in South America, and will be racing Panamá (the country) 70.3 in March) I see huge differences in terms of HR when in the heat training zones, which seems like a valuable enough data delta to account for.
Advice usually suggest you train in the same condition as your race setup (TT position, nutrition, etc.)
Shouldn’t then Body Core Temp be taken into account as well? If so, I would first have to elevate my core temp to 38.0 Celsius, prior to starting the test, which will require an extensive warm up and possibly, layers of clothing, but then again, wouldn’t that throw off the lactate baseline?
Or maybe I should do two tests: one with an elevated core temp and one with out.
Thoughts?
Are you taking about actual lactate blood testing, or just approximating lactate threshold with power tests? If actual blood testing, then It’s probably a good idea to test in the ways most specific to your training and training. If you’re going to be training on the heat then it behoves you to test in the heat.
I would caution about setting zones based on a one off lactate test tho. My hr and power at LT2 vary by a fair amount (+/- 5bpm and 15ish watts) based on a lot of different factors. Really the best is to validate lactate zone by testing during specific sessions.
Thanks for chiming in, also, cool nickname.
I’m talking about actual lactate test, performed with a lactate meter.
It’ll probable be a good idea to monitor lactate also during trainings, not just on specific test days, but I was hesitating on whether or not elevate my core temp first and then spin easy to return to baseline lactate and THEN start the ramp up.
If you have the lactate meter on hand out would be good to try both. The lactate step test isn’t really that hard, you could easily do them on consecutive weeks, one in the heat and one in the AC with fans. I’d be interested to see the difference between the two.