Thanks and What is next

Thanks everyone for coming to the Carmicheal event. Getting to do something like that is quite the privilege, and it should really help us this year in our training. It of course only focused on the pure physical side of training, however that is part of it. Of course we also have to work on our mental and emotional side of training as well.

The physical component is 1/3 of the pie and now we understand ourselves that much more. These numbers should help us through out the year, especially if you have a heart rate monitor or power meter, however all you really need is to be in tune with yourself and two fingers. The fingers are to check your pulse.

What is Next?

Next up in this season are some Time Trials and mountain bike races. To do well at these we have to be comfortable going hard and holding a high level of effort. To do this, we of course need to train. In the next coming weeks we are going to be doing some Steady State intervals, where we are going to get up to a 7 out of 10 level of intensity and then hold it for an amount of time. This will help us in our time trials. Then for the mountain bike races we are going to work on some raw full on power. So in the coming weeks we are going to train these two facets of ourselves.

Lactate Threshold

My definition and understanding: When we work out and are being physical our muscles need fuel to move. This fuel is lactic acid. If we are working hard, recovery ride, walking, our body can produce the fuel (Lactic acid) and use it. As we start working harder though our body starts to make more fuel thinking we need it. If we are not working crazy hard then we can still use the fuel. However once we start working really hard the body gets really excited and starts to just produce fuel like crazy and throws a bunch at the muscles. In a slight freak out, if you will. At this point though the muscles are like too much, too much and they start to scream at you.

We are going to train so that we can consume the most fuel possible before the body starts to freak out.

Below is the Wikipedia definition:

The lactate threshold (LT) (or lactate inflection point (LIP) or aerobic threshold (AeT)) is the exercise intensity at which lactate (more specifically, lactic acid) starts to accumulate in the blood stream. The reason for the acidification of the blood at high exercise intensities is two-fold: the high rates of ATP hydrolysis in the muscle release hydrogen ions, as they are co-transported out of the muscle into the blood via the MCT— monocarboxylate transporter, and also bicarbonate stores in the blood begin to be used up. This happens when lactate is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized) in the muscle. When exercising at or below the LT, any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.

With a higher exercise intensity the lactate level in the blood reaches the ‘anaerobic threshold (AT), or the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA).

The lactate threshold is a useful measure for deciding exercise intensity for training and racing in endurance sports (e.g. long distance running, cycling, rowing, swimming and cross country skiing), but varies between individuals and can be increased with training. Interval training takes advantage of the body being able to temporarily exceed the lactate threshold, and then recover (reduce blood-lactate) while operating below the threshold and while still doing physical activity. Fartlek and interval training are similar, the main difference being the structure of the exercise. Interval training can take the form of many different types of exercise and should closely replicate the movements found in the sport.

Accurately measuring the lactate threshold involves taking blood samples (normally a pinprick to the finger, earlobe or thumb) during a ramp test where the exercise intensity is progressively increased. Measuring the threshold can also be performed non-invasively using gas-exchange (Respiratory quotient) methods, which requires a metabolic cart to measure air inspired and expired.

Although the lactate threshold is defined as the point when lactic acid starts to accumulate, some testers approximate this by using the point at which lactate reaches aconcentration of 4 mM (at rest it is around 1 mM).