Lactate-Threshold Training
In 2007, my weekly training consisted of a long run, intermediate runs, and one interval session. I was forgetting about the all important lactate-threshold (LT) training run.
LT essentially decides what pace you maintain in a race. As you start to run, and speed up, lactate starts to form in your muscles and your body must be able to clear out the lactate. However, once you get above a certain intensity the lactate formation is greater than the clearance rate. That is your lactate-threshold, the point at which your body can no longer keep up with lactate production.
Your LT is the most significant factor in determining race performance from the 10k on up. A shorter race, such as the 5k is mostly dependent on a high VO2 max, and a 10k is equally dependent on the two factors. That’s the reason that punk high school CC kid was able to blow past you in those final 100 meters!
The good news for us runners, who are no longer in high school, is that your LT can continue to improve long after VO2 max has ceased to improve (which often occurs in a few years). Often times it can take up to 9 years too reach full LT potential.
The best way to improve LT potential is to train at LT pace. Once again, it’s important that you understand the point of this workout, and why you must train at LT pace. If you train at too high of an intensity, you start to build up LT to quickly, and you won’t train your muscles how to work efficiently without building up lactate. If you run at too low of an intensity the stimulus will not be great enough to produce the optimal level of lactate. Once again, the goal is to spend as much time as possible at LT.
There are three main types of LT workouts. The tempo run, LT intervals, and LT hills. I personally use my half marathon race pace for LT workouts. It’s a good approximation, and if you have not recently run a half marathon, check out this handy calculator to find your LT pace.
Examining the training that I did last year, I probably did few workouts at LT, if any at all. I generally ran my long runs faster than recommended, but I still did not get down to LT pace. This year I plan on doing more LT workouts, and fewer intervals.
My best race last year was a 1:21:59 half marathon (using the calculator to predict VDOT of various race times and various distances). I’ll be interested to find out this year if the half marathon is still my forte.