Lactate Threshold Tests on Garmin

Triathlon Forum
1

Does anyone regularly keep track of their lactate threshold? I recently got a fenix 5 and have run the test on my watch and also have it set now to automatically calculate it if it detects a new one to use for training zones. I think I understand lactate threshold as the point at which your body can no longer flush out the lactate that your muscles are producing. So in the Connect application it says that generally you want to see your HR go up and your pace go down, which is confusing to me because I would think you would want to see your HR go down with pace right?

This morning I did some intervals and it detected a new LT which was 170bpm at 6:57 mile pace, prior it was at 169bpm for the same pace. I realize its a small change as in general my pace has been going down each time I run a similar workout. Aside from the general question before, another would be does anyone recommend leaving the auto-detect feature off so it doesn’t update my HR zones, or is it ok to have them be in flux from week to week (however minutely they change)?

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I leave mine on but don’t put much stock in the result as it doesn’t seem to take context into consideration. For example, sometimes it prompts me to change the value based on a short kick at the end of an 18 or 20 miler. Other times it suggests an update on a super hot, humid day. Yet others it does it based on a long hill climb when pace will be much slower at a given heart rate. I’ve never tried running their specific test and I’m sure that would be more reproducible if done on a flat course in similar conditions, but the auto update seems flawed.

3

That makes some sense. I don’t run on flats typically, my usual training roads are rolling so I didn’t think about how that would skew the results.

I have been weary of looking at it after a night of drinking followed by a grueling run haha. I typically skip quickly past my results (:

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I haven’t done it for a while but a year ago I did some blood tests to measure my lactic threshold and it as doing a lot of training with my Garmin Fenix 3 which was estimating it. The results seemed well aligned to the physical testing. Not exactly but close. In terms of reliability, it wasn’t too bad for me

There will be a margin of error in it. If the outcome shifted by a few bpm id ignore it, more than that then maybe worth looking at, only on the condition that you haven’t changed your training around too much. Recently I’ve been doing recovery pace runs only and the watch hasnt got a clue what’s going on with my lhrt