June 30th workout, podcast, .
Day 1 workout above.
Lactate Threshold, Zone 4The anchor point for our training...
First off gang to really get the full spectrum of each topic read the posts AND listen to the audio. There are not the same. A good Threshold work out is in the Audio.
Threshold: your lactate threshold is talked about in many different terms so lets get it straight. Its “Lactate Threshold”. or just threshold. Not anaerobic threshold, aerobic threshold, etc…
Your threshold is defined as the point at which your body can not fitter and process the lactic acid and lactate you are producing and it builds up. When this happens your rate of work can’t be sustained very long. While many people can produce there power at threshold for up to an hour but go 5% harder and your down to holding that power for 30’ -20’ or less! A big drop off!
You tube Chanel podcast on lactate threshold
How we test for our Threshold:
~The lab. Best way, can be expensive, using a power meter and heart rate during the test is the ONLY way to go!
~Field Test: very good and the most practical. We don’t race in a lab. For this a test of 40 minutes or more should be used. Use a course that you don’t have to stop on and allows you to produce a steady power out put. To find threshold HR take your avg. HR after the first10 minutes or so, when it final settles in.
“Why 40’ I heard it was what you can do for an hour”. “I heard it was what you can do for 30”.
Again your threshold is defined by blood levels of lactic acid. I know many athletes who either can not do this out for a full hour or can but only when the planets align. This is where we come to FTP. “Functional Threshold Power”. To use your Threshold in training it needs to “functional” repeatable, useable. It takes a very sound rider to do a full hour right at threshold. You will see some riders who have no problem with this while other will struggle a bit. We’re all different. In our experience here the newer the athlete, the less time they can hold lab defined threshold for. However, the 1 hour TT is the standard and everyone should be striving for this.
With all tests, races and training there is no one piece of data that defines your abilities. Do several tests, take many data points and match that up to a lab test. As said earlier the more data points you have to define your threshold the better. just because you rode up Appellation Gap in 1 hour, one time, way back when, probably with a tail wind, doesn’t mean that is your threshold. its got to be repeatable!
Your Zones:
This is the starting point for all your zones. If your using the old 220 minus your age for HR its most likely wrong. If your gym has one of these charts up, tell them to get with the post 1990’s!
An excellent description of how your zones should be set up is here
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/power-training-levels.aspx
As you can see each zone has a range. So don’t stress out about finding your HR or wattage at threshold the .001%. you want to be as accurate as possible, yes, but don’t loose sleep. With the ranges in each zone, the variability in athletes in every zone and the fact that you will be defining these zones with more than one data point, you will have lots of good reference points and well set up zones for very effective training.
Bottom Line:
~Test every month or so.
~Use more than one data point/test to determine your Threshold
~Use differnt types of tests ie. best 1 hr. normalized power from a race, 1 hr TT, 30' TT less 3-5%)
~Get a threshold from climbing and TT
~realize we are all a bit different. what your pals do is good knoldge but find out what YOU can do and can't do.
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