The Science Behind Lactate Threshold Testing

According to this article, running above a purely aerobic rate would not negate the aerobic gains and switch to purely anaerobic, it would just add in anaerobic on top of a fully taxed aerobic system to sustain the effort. Am I reading that right? Always trying to figure out the best way to build the aerobic engine while doing run training, and was under the impression it was generally accepted that long slow miles under a specific HR was the best way. Thoughts?

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/04/06/the-science-behind-lactate-threshold-testing/

Read this: http://physfarm.com/new/?page_id=511

It’s more related to biking, but it’s relevant to running as well. There’s no magic line. If you are running for more than ~10seconds, there is a strong aerobic component. Even in the 200m on the track, there’s a reasonable amount of aerobic requirements.

“running above a purely aerobic rate would not negate the aerobic gains and switch to purely anaerobic, it would just add in anaerobic on top of a fully taxed aerobic system to sustain the effort.” - Yes. It’s not like at “threshold” you switch from aerobic to anaerobic. It’s a continuum.

According to this article, running above a purely aerobic rate would not negate the aerobic gains and switch to purely anaerobic, it would just add in anaerobic on top of a fully taxed aerobic system to sustain the effort.** Am I reading that right?** Always trying to figure out the best way to build the aerobic engine while doing run training, and was under the impression it was generally accepted that long slow miles under a specific HR was the best way. Thoughts?

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/...e-threshold-testing/

yes. Your body is not a quaternary system in which in one energy pathway has to operate exclusively of the others. The four main sources, ranked by increasing power provided, are aerobic lipolytic, aerobic glycolytic, anaerobic glycolytic, and creatine phosphate. End goal of all these is to produce ATP to sustain muscle contraction. Even at very low intensities, anaerobic glycolytic is still active, but its contribution is low in comparison to lipolytic pathway.

long slow miles will work on certain types of adaptations such as increasing lipolytic enzymes, but you need a ton of volume to get the benefit. It will probably not increase your ability to improve capacity to extract energy from aerobic glycolytic because that pathway doesn’t become dominate until you reach a relatively high effort. Furthermore, the low efforts won’t help with the adaptation needed to operate at a maximal steady state lactate level. Keyword here is specificity as different levels of exertions cause different physiological adaptations.

PS. Ditch the HRM and go by pace or gradient adjusted pace. Runners are lucky that they don’t have to buy a PM to gauge effort.

PPS. I had to link to this chart so often that i think we should have a sticky for basic exercise physiology. yes, it’s for cycling, but it’s valid for all endurance sports

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/power-training-levels,-by-andrew-coggan.aspx

Obviously, credits go to Dr. Coggan and Trainingpeaks

I like to use a faucet as an analogy. You turn on the cold water (aerobic), you add in hot water (anaerobic) and when the temperature is just right you are close to that lactate threshold (LT), anaerobic threshold (AT), etc. Thing is when it comes to endurance training/racing you are never just one of the three energy systems, you can be predominate in one energy system but there will always contributions from other systems.

To answer your question, depending on the distance and where you are in training is how you want to gauge your intensity. I.e. if you were training for a 10k I would a fair amount of runs close to the AT and some shorter slightly over the AT.

there’s no such thing as a “purely aerobic rate”
.

What about when I’m sleeping?

Thanks for the input and additional article. Good stuff.

What about when I’m sleeping?

Thanks for the input and additional article. Good stuff.

Whether you’re sleeping…sitting…walking…sprinting your body is using all the energy systems all the time, the contributions just change.

Measure lactate before dinner, and after dinner (eat a lot of CHO)… :wink: