What is lactate threshold?
Lactate Threshold (LT) is a term that describes a level of exercise intensity at which lactic acid accumulates in the bloodstream faster than it can be removed, or metabolized. Training just below this “threshold” allows the body to adapt and adjust to anaerobic effort. While aerobic activity generally involves lower intensity heart rate efforts performed over a prolonged period of time, an anaerobic effort involves the ability to perform increasing heart rate workloads with less oxygen – while running faster. Lactate threshold training teaches the body to tolerate moderate levels of lactic acid in the blood, through training at a pace that is significantly faster than aerobic conditioning – where very little lactic acid is produced, and much more oxygen is available.(Blame those heavy legs, and your inability to maintain the “stress” of faster paced running on several physiological factors – one of which includes exceeding your LT). The ability to tolerate these negative byproducts in
