In the 2 weeks leading up to my 1st Ironman Race there was so much going on that I wanted to share but it seemed that every day found me crawling to bed with no energy to share all the things that were filling my day and my mind.
One of the things that my coach Roger had me do was to have some of my Sports Testing updated with Ben at Champion Sports Medicine. So on Wednesday June 13th, just 11 days before my 1st Ironman race I had an appointment to have my Lactate Threshold test updated.
What is Lactate Threshold?
Lactate is a by-product of anaerobic metabolism that is produced during exercise. It is produced across all levels of activity and exercise but when the intensity increases so does the amount of lactate produced. The key is the balance between the rate of lactate being produced and the rate at which the body is able to absorb the lactate. There comes a point at which lactate removal fails to keep up with the rate of lactate production. This point is referred to as Lactate Threshold (LT).
An accurate LT test will involve the testing of your blood
Excessive blood lactate interfere with efficient muscle contraction and as a result your power output decreases causing you to slow down.
At Champion Sports Medicine, Ben Greenfield ( pictured above) actually pricked my finger to test my blood at various intervals to get accurate readings of my personal blood lactate at various HR levels.
LT represents the higest steady-state exercising intensity an athlete can maintain for a prolonged period of time. For endurance athletes knowing your LT becomes critical to your success.
How this benefited me was that Roger used the test data from my own blood to give me my personal Heart Rate Zone to stay in for the bike and another Heart Rate Zone to stay within for the run. Knowing my personal LT was a huge piece of Mental Strength for me going into my Ironman Race.
Testing blood Lactate is also a measurement for improved fitness. LT is highly trainable. Natural genetics do play into the numbers but for almost everyone proper training will ramp up your LT.
I had mine tested for the first time in March, it was 148 and I had it tested again in June and it was had increased to 154! That is a 6 beat improvement which meant that I would be able to maintain a higher level of intensity for the duration of my race.
This was very rewarding and validating to me for all my heard training leading up to Ironman!
4 comments:
Hey Kathi - Nice post! I love the graphs and science you incorporated! This is the first time I have had a chance to check your blog in a very long time. I am happy to see that you are still keeping it up after a break. I probably should write one for my own Ironman journey... I am so proud of all that you accomplished over the last year. You are such an awesome role model for me to follow. Your Ironman performance was unbelievable!!! I am thrilled that you are going to do it again!
Jennifer
Kathi! I'm so glad you're back! I loved reading about the different triathlons and how well Tri-Fusion did at the tri club championships! Congrats to everyone! Happy Tuesday and hope to see you soon!
Jen
Kathi,
WOW, that is a lot of information. I will have to read it again to absorb it all. I was excited to see that you posted on a Tuesday. It kinda messed up the days of the week for a few minutes. I am okay now, and can move on with my Tuesday. For a while I was excited thinking it was actually Thursday.
Thanks for everything.
Nice to see that you're messing with a certain someone and throwing his week off.
Anyone can just look at you and know that your level of fitness has increased dramatically over the last year. I'm sure for you it was a huge validation to have the scientific numbers agree with how your body was feeling and of course your Ironman performance proved the numbers to be true.
You rocked the course!
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