Lactate Threshold
During
exercise, when glucose (sugar) is burned by the muscle cells
for energy, two results can be obtained, depending if enough oxygen is available
to the cells. If sufficient oxygen is available, the glucose is burned until
only carbon dioxide and water remain, and those substances are expelled by the
lungs. This exercise is an aerobic exercise. If sufficient oxygen is not
available due to the intensity of the workout, lactate is produced and is absorbed by the blood. This exercise is an
anaerobic exercise. The point at which the exercise changes from aerobic to
anaerobic exercise is the lactate threshold.
New
runners should avoid anaerobic running because they are still developing a base
of endurance. Long
slow distance and low-level forms of
speed are done as aerobic exercises. Other runners, especially older ones, who want to avoid intense training should also not
run anaerobically. It is thus important that runners be able to
recognize when they go from aerobic to anaerobic training. I asked one of my
running friends, Randy, to explain how a runner can recognize that he or she has
gone anaerobic, and Randy explained it this way.
There are 2 ways a runner can perceive the impact of
running beyond the threshold pace. First, you will incur an oxygen dept. This
will manifest itself in a feeling of shortness of breath; that your lungs are
not large enough to suck in all the air you want. Second, as lactate accumulates
you will feel a 'burning' sensation in your muscles.
In general a highly trained, elite, runner will have a
marathon pace just under their lactate threshold; for less conditioned/slower
runners it might be closer to their 10k pace (or about the fastest pace they
can maintain for an 1 hour).
For many runners, the anaerobic threshold is around 85-90% of
their maximum heart rate.
However,
running anaerobically can help runners go faster, because lactate is an excellent source of energy if
one can learn to burn it as fuel. This use of lactate as fuel can be
developed by running anaerobically for
relatively short periods of time followed by slow, aerobic recovery periods.
This method of anaerobic training is briefly explained by
Dr. Gabe Mirkin.
Another
good article on lactate threshold is
in
Wikipedia.
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