8,153
edits
Changes
no edit summary
Lactate Threshold is important as it is an excellent good predictor of race performance<ref name="Billat-1996"/><ref name="Palmer-1999"/><ref name="Baldari-2000"/><ref name="Jones-2000"/>. Lactate Threshold can be thought of as the percentage of VO2max that can be maintained for a protracted time<ref name="Costill-1973"/>, though it's not clear what the limiting factor is for exercise above the Lactate Threshold<ref name="Baron-2008"/>.
=Lactate Curve=
It is common to plot exercise intensity against lactate level to produce a blood lactate curve similar to the one below, showing an exponential rise in lactate level with intensity. It's generally accepted that a shift of the curve to the right indicates an improved athletic performance<ref name="Bosquet-2002"/><ref name="Yoshida-1990"/>, and training can improve performance because of this shift without a change in aerobic capacity ([[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]])<ref name="Acevedo-1989"/>. There is some limited evidence from radio-isotope studies in animals that a benefit of endurance training may be in Lactate clearance<ref name="Donovan-1983"/>. Note that above the Lactate Threshold the Lactate level is not at a steady state, but rises even though the intensity remains constant, so the typical curve that is shown is rather misleading. Some Lactate Curves are plotting Blood Lactate against time during an Incremental Power Test (see below), which is more reasonable, but can still be rather misleading. [[File:Blood Lactate CurveLactateThreshold.jpgpng|none|thumb|500px|A typically blood lactate curve with lactate level plotted against intensity. Note that above the Lactate Threshold there is no fixed relationship between Lactate and work intensity, so the curve is misleading at best.]]
=Lactate Threshold Training =
''Main article: [[Tempo Runs]]''