Balance..or others knowledgable, lactate test interpretation

I, too, would love to hear an answer. Great question!

bump

anyone?

guess not

[/quote] The question is, in training for middle distance, I think the "high" levels of lactate at paces of about 5k pace and faster could be detrimental even though my max lactate levels are pretty high. Any way I can maybe flatten the curve out a bit> Would this be a sound idea and thinking? Keep the anaerobic capacity (max lactate) levels fairly high, but somehow lessen the steep incline. [/quote]

It really depends on what event you are training for. If you are training for the 800m not so much. If you are training for the 5k than most definitely. This is where some 5k tempo runs at about 10% slower than goal race pace can be quite effective. Over a few short weeks you may be able to reduce the amount of lactate that is produced at 5k race pace. Any slower than 10% of goal race pace won't be close enough to race pace to produce the changes you want. Since we want to get the desired results without killing ourselves in practice we really don't need to run faster than that. long repetitions at goal race pace can also be quite effective. It really depends on how you react to the training which will determine which you will chose to do. Everyone should train at race pace but some may be able to get away with doing repeat 400m at race pace with some tempo runs. Others may need to do repeat miles at race pace, and may not ever bother with doing tempo runs.

Part of doing the lactate tests is to plot your body’s reactions over time so that you can figure out which workouts work best for you. This could take up to two years but fortunately this is a very short time in the life of a distance runner.

makes sence. so somewhere between LT pace and some "VO2" type work. thanks for the response.

warnock wrote:

....The problem was that once I "crossed" the LT, my lactate values increased dramatically (steep lactate curve). I was shocked at how high they got. In addition, after the hard 800m my lactate levels were very high (~20 range). I'm pretty sure this indicates that my anaerobic capacity is pretty high then. The question is, in training for middle distance, I think the "high" levels of lactate at paces of about 5k pace and faster could be detrimental even though my max lactate levels are pretty high. Any way I can maybe flatten the curve out a bit> Would this be a sound idea and thinking? Keep the anaerobic capacity (max lactate) levels fairly high, but somehow lessen the steep incline. Please e-mail me for further in depth details or others can respond off of this info.

Why do you think that lactate is detrimental?! It's not! It's the H+ that's detrimental (Pyruvate-->Lactate + H+), but considering you achieved a high [blood lactate], you were able to do so because your body has a high buffering capacity to offset the production of H+. Production of lactate is simply a way of producing NAD+ so that glycolysis can proceed-- it's a misconception that the lactate, itself, is "detrimental". Furthermore, you hit lactate threshold when the rate of production exceeds the rate of removal-- once you hit lactate threshold, blood lactate rises exponential. THE AFTER LT part is NOT what you change through training adaptations.... it's before. Training (especially improved aerobic capacity, which is often neglected in mid-distance runners) improves the ability to remove blood lactate (increased capillarization), increased mitochondria #, increased fat oxidation, slowed glycolysis due to increased enzyme citrate synthase production which inhibits PFK (less reliance on glycolysis for metabolism), improved buffering capacity.... all of this allow you to train at a higher intensity BEFORE REACHING lactate threshold. Once you hit LT, it's going to rise exponential.

If you consider a graph plotting [blood lactate] vs. %VO2 max, the question is-- will LT occur at 85% VO2 max or 90% VO2 max? This is what matters.... how high it gets AFTER LT is simply a matter of your body's buffering capacity against H+. 20 is pretty high.... consider yourself very fit! :) jag

Actually, let me rephrase something.

Don't worry just how high your [blood lactate] gets. You're able to tolerate a higher production of Lactate + H+ BECAUSE OF your improved buffering capacity against H+.

Most people would not be able to tolerate such a high lactate + H+ because they don't have the buffering capacity to do so!

Balance- I haven't been able to buy Olbrecht's book yet but have studied some of his and Mader's other literature. I know you wrote a whole thread on his work, so I was wondering if you knew how Olbrecht went about calculating VLaMax (ANC) off of his lactate tests and came up with a VO2max value?