The Lactate Threshold
Tuesday I'm supposed to do a Lactate Threshold run, with 4 miles of warm-up and then 4 miles at Half-Marathon Race Pace.
I've decided that I'll try to use some cross between an estimated heart rate and an estimated pace, and see how that goes, though I'm a little concerned about getting this right.
There are several ways to "determine" Lactate Threshold:
I've never raced a half-marathon. There are some guidelines and formulas that take your 10K time and convert it to half-marathon time, such as this calculator from Runner's World. For the mathematically inclined: T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)1.06, where T1 is the given time, D1 is the given distance, D2 is the distance to predict a time for, and T2 is the calculated time for D2. Based on the last 10K I did, it suggests a pace of 7:15.
Heart Rate General Guideline:
Based upon the ranges in the book and what I've determined about my Maximum Heart Rate, I might expect my Lactate Threshold to happen somewhere between 148 and 167 bpm. I've had quite a few longer runs at 8:00 or less averaging higher than that range, though, so one would think I'd need to go slower than 8:00 to be at LT pace, by this method.
Heart Rate Deflection Point:
Based upon the data in last Thursday's experiment, LT pace would happen at 158 bpm and a pace of 8:24.
Laboratory Test:
This is where I would get on a treadmill, gradually increasing speed, and having them sample my blood every so often to determine when lactate actually does begin to accumulate in my blood. Okay, I'm not that insane, yet.
Informal comments from people and my own recent running experiences are leading me to dismiss the estimates that have me going much slower than 7:30, since I know I can run 10 miles at that pace without racing, and having done 12 miles at 8:03 the previous Saturday, again, without it being a race and me even trying to keep it nice and easy. If lacate is starting to accumulate in my blood at those paces, wouldn't I feel something? Thomas suggested that these runs should be at a pace where if I raced the half-marathon at that pace, I'd be totally spent. That just doesn't sound like 8:00 to me.
So I've decided to do two things:
Tangentially related:
Hey, so, my brother is training for the Big Sur Marathon and he did his last long run this weekend. I liked the picture of my route from Saturday, so I thought I'd show his 22 mile LA route (from Woodland Hills to Santa Monica!). Here it is.
I've decided that I'll try to use some cross between an estimated heart rate and an estimated pace, and see how that goes, though I'm a little concerned about getting this right.
There are several ways to "determine" Lactate Threshold:
- Half-Marathon Race Pace
- Heart Rate General Guideline of 80%-90% of Maximum Heart Rate
- Heart Rate Deflection Point
- Laboratory Test
I've never raced a half-marathon. There are some guidelines and formulas that take your 10K time and convert it to half-marathon time, such as this calculator from Runner's World. For the mathematically inclined: T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)1.06, where T1 is the given time, D1 is the given distance, D2 is the distance to predict a time for, and T2 is the calculated time for D2. Based on the last 10K I did, it suggests a pace of 7:15.
Heart Rate General Guideline:
Based upon the ranges in the book and what I've determined about my Maximum Heart Rate, I might expect my Lactate Threshold to happen somewhere between 148 and 167 bpm. I've had quite a few longer runs at 8:00 or less averaging higher than that range, though, so one would think I'd need to go slower than 8:00 to be at LT pace, by this method.
Heart Rate Deflection Point:
Based upon the data in last Thursday's experiment, LT pace would happen at 158 bpm and a pace of 8:24.
Laboratory Test:
This is where I would get on a treadmill, gradually increasing speed, and having them sample my blood every so often to determine when lactate actually does begin to accumulate in my blood. Okay, I'm not that insane, yet.
Informal comments from people and my own recent running experiences are leading me to dismiss the estimates that have me going much slower than 7:30, since I know I can run 10 miles at that pace without racing, and having done 12 miles at 8:03 the previous Saturday, again, without it being a race and me even trying to keep it nice and easy. If lacate is starting to accumulate in my blood at those paces, wouldn't I feel something? Thomas suggested that these runs should be at a pace where if I raced the half-marathon at that pace, I'd be totally spent. That just doesn't sound like 8:00 to me.
So I've decided to do two things:
- Guess at a heart rate range that will keep me on pace (160 to 181)
- Try to do those four miles tomorrow at around 7:15 pace.
Tangentially related:
Hey, so, my brother is training for the Big Sur Marathon and he did his last long run this weekend. I liked the picture of my route from Saturday, so I thought I'd show his 22 mile LA route (from Woodland Hills to Santa Monica!). Here it is.
posted by Brent at
4:51 PM
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