What happens during a mile physiologically?

How was your day? Want to have a cup of coffee?

Lactate kinetics are pretty complex, so here is a simplified version.

At the starting line, blood lactate levels are going to depend on one's warm up and how long (short) before the start did you cease the warm up.

Since the mile is run at supramaximal intensity (that is above aerobic demand so you are getting some anaerobic contribution, the lactate levels will rise quickly during the mile and peak a few minutes after the race is over.

Keep in mind that 1) lactate is a fuel substrate and 2) that lactate is not the concern---the increase in acidity is and lactate buffers said acidity.

Muscle fiber recruitment is very high. Type I are fully recruited and type II's are also highly activated.

is this the best we can do?

A simplified explanation of blood lactate?

come on people.

If you want a detailed physiology lesson, go to college.

bad connection wrote:

is this the best we can do?

A simplified explanation of blood lactate?

come on people.

You are probably one of the biggest ass clowns I have ever encountered.

Obviously you are only getting responses from high school kids on this forum. Read "Winning running" by Peter Coe.

Quit plagiarizing your physiology text book… I’ve read that chapter.

ere's a brief overview I took from some notes on a Mader study. It refers to the whole system and was in reference to a 6min max competition, so it applies to the mile:

Creatine Phosphate levels- Starts at ~20mmol, drops down to ~5mmol within 30sec, then more gradual drop from 5 to 0 at the end of the race. Returns to near normal (~17mmol) very quickly once race stopped (1-2min) then steady or slight increase as rest is prolonged.

Lactate Production- (energy via glycolysis)- Glycolysis increases dramatically to near max( .4 compared to .5 max) until 30-45sec then drops by half (from .4 to .2 pretty dramatic fall) until right before 2min, then steady gradual decline from .2 to .1 to finish.

VO2max- Fast increase until ~40sec (ex: will increase to 57 for an athlete w/ a max of 64.5), then gradual increase until max near end (slow component-slow increase from 57 to max 64.5). (Source: Lactate CD- 6min rowers test).

Muscle pH- Steady drop from ~7.2 to ~6.6 at end. As pH drops, glycolysis inhibited.

Muscle Lactate- Fast steady increase throughout (from ~2 to 27mmol). Fastest increase in first 30-40sec, then only a very slight drop in the steepness of increase. Fairly quick decrease within first 2-4min post exercise (from 27 to 20) then levels out to slight decrease. Muscle lactate ends up equaling blood lactate when blood lactate has peaked at 10-12min post race.

Blood Lactate- Starts at 1-2, increases steadily throughout and levels off post exercise at about 8 min post race. Then stays steady and then slight decrease. Ex: in 6min all out, Lacate at 2min= ~6mmol, 4min= 10mmol, 6min= 14mmol. Peaks at 6-8min post race at ~18mmol.

ATP- Declines slow and steadily. Somewhat more increased decline during last 60sec. ADP increases and some of this is converted to AMP to provide a phosphate ion for energy production.

I for one would like to hear from the430miler.

Steve, do you believe the Mader model?

Bear in mind that he is the man who stated in the early eighties that during medium pace running, a very fit long distance runner is using up to 80% fats, a completely ridiculous figure, the true figure being around 40%

Surely, to run a fast mile, the muscle lactate has to be fairly high immediately before the race? If you don't warm up enough, or have enough adrenaline coursing through your blood, then you can't run a mile anywhere near your potential.

why would you want the muscle lactate to be fairly high before the race?

Seems counterproductive to me.

Yes, I know muscle lactate doesn't directly cause fatigue, but w/ the increase in muscle lactate comes a drop in pH and we know that as pH drops, glycolysis fails, which means less energy can be produced.

I agree that a miler needs to be warmed up and ready to go, but that doesn't involve getting a significant amount of lactate in the muscle. 60-100m strides or accelerations w/ a good deal of rest won't do that. You'd either need a significant number of these strides or something longer and fast.

"why would you want the muscle lactate to be fairly high before the race?"

Because muscle lactate provides most of the energy for the race. In a state of high arousal, the muscle lactate will be higher.

You want more than a few 60m strides to run your best in a mile race, that's not a proper warm up. I do 200m slightly slower than race pace, then 200m at race pace, then 200m slightly faster than race pace, finishing several minutes before the race.

Please revisit most of my previous posts. I am a leading and world renown authority on physiology.

"Yes this is a big task, but I think we can do it."

Bad Connection, does the "we" include you? You ask a good question and suggest an intelligent debate, so are you going to make some input here also?

I would be interested to read your views on the subject.