Lactate Threshold: The Invisible Wall
Ever wondered why, during a match or a workout you’re going hard all of a sudden to find there is nothing left in the tank?
It’s probably due to you working past your lactate threshold or in other words you’re producing more by-products from utlising energy at a cellular level than your body can deal with. The key to improved endurance performance is increasing your tolerance to lactic acid or in other words raising your lactate threshold.
When you’re exercising at lower intensities your body is happy to use blood plasma fat, stored triglycerides, and to a lesser extent blood glucose through aerobic pathways. As you increase the demand, the body will now start to use more blood glucose and stored muscle glycogen in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic). As part of this process these substances are eventually broken down into pyruvic acid (or pyruvate) which is further broken down into lactic acid (lactate) to be used by the cells as energy. This is the body’s own recycling method to get the most out of its energy under demand.
The problem occurs when you can’t use the lactic acid quick enough and there is a subsequent increase in levels within the muscles which spills over into the bloodstream. The level of blood lactate builds up gradually and at the point where it increases dramatically we call this level the lactate threshold and performance levels tend to plummet. So elite endurance athletes are trying to perform at or just below their lactate threshold in competition to make sure they are not going to ‘hit the wall’.
As with most elements of fitness, specific training techniques can be used to increase your lactate threshold. Long intervals, tempo runs, and long hills are the best types of training methods for runners. Similar concepts apply to swimmers and bicyclists. You need to be performing at a level which is ‘comfortably hard’ and that you can sustain for designated periods throughout the session.
Other Activity Thresholds
A common barrier to continued progress from your strength training is the deadly plateau. To find out what you can do to progress further, view the Lifestyle Medicine online article Supersets and Strength Training.
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Professor Trim
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