The Benefits of Lactate Testing

Lactate testing is a highly scientific way of looking inside the body during exercise to see exactly what's going on. It's sound science, exceptionally accurate and reliable. However, to better understand it, some key points are best made from the start because, all lactate testing is not the same and as a consumer you must be careful to learn the facts before you get tested:

1. Unless you are getting blood lactate measured, through blood samples taken during exercise, you are not getting a true lactate test and you cannot get accurate, valid & complete results. There are many companies out there who offer so-called lactate testing but this is highly misleading and without the blood samples, you are getting a diluted service.

2. Lactate is a key player in endurance performance. It is far more important than VO2 max as it is directly related to your ability to perform at race pace. At its simplest, lactate (or lactic acid) is a by-product of exercise. It's not bad and it's not good, but it is of key importance when you are looking to improve as an endurance athlete. Here are simple definitions to help you understand its role:

aerobic = with oxygen, using fats & carbohydrates for energy along with lactate which is produced at low levels and metabolized efficiently. This is your endurance energy system. Your lactate threshold (LT) is a highly aerobic point where lactate levels in the blood are still low but just starting to reach steady state levels. Your LT is the most efficient effort level that you can sustain for long periods of time without going in to your energy reserves.

anaerobic = without oxygen, using carbohydrates for energy. An efficient anaerobic system will produce a lot of lactate as its by-product. Thus, your anaerobic threshold (AT) is much more stressful because it produces much higher lactate levels and is therefore only sustainable for much shorter periods. .

For the endurance athlete, the BALANCE of these two systems must be developed optimally for their chosen event and performing a lactate test will help determine the relative contribution of each system. In general, the well-developed endurance athlete will produce very little lactate even at high speeds. Ironman athletes and top marathon runners need to be highly aerobic, which means that very little lactate is produced even at peak speeds and testing reveals a very flat lactate curve. Ironman athletes typically have almost no anaerobic capacity which means practically all their energy comes from aerobic sources. Optimizing lactate threshold development is the main goal of Ironman training, and racing an Ironman at LT proves the most efficient route to a solid race day performance. On the other hand, a short distance triathlete needs a more diverse profile that blends aerobic and anaerobic power. .

So how does blood lactate testing compare to the other testing methods? It removes the guesswork and estimation that all the other testing methods use and is based solely on the data that your body provides. For example, anaerobic threshold prediction tests, max heart-rate tests and heart-rate formulas are all based on guesswork and mathematics and as such give very sketchy results. After being lactate tested and comparing the results with those from a heart-rate formula or anaerobic threshold prediction test, it's not uncommon for some athletes to realize that they've been training as much as twenty beats per minute out of their optimal range! Suddenly the athlete can see why they were prone to over-training, underperformance and constant disappointment. Almost always, the athlete improves dramatically following lactate testing as for many this is the first time that they get accurate data that allows their true athletic potential to be realized. .

Even VO2 max testing and the resulting prescriptions are based on estimation. In this case, anaerobic threshold is based on breathing rates and gas exchange and lactate threshold is not even found. Then your training zones are based on guesstimate heart-rates taken from percentages of your VO2 max. With lactate testing your training zones are based on the exact concentration of lactate at certain exercise intensities and the corresponding heart-rates, power outputs and speeds. These are different for everyone. There is no 85% or fat burning zone, just unique and personal results specific only to you based on sound science.

Therefore, regularly performing true lactate tests on athletes allows us to:
• Monitor the balance of the aerobic and anaerobic systems
• To see how an athlete has adapted to training
• To allow the athlete's body to tell us what training it needs
• To prescribe accurate training parameters to bring about optimal progress

So it's easy to see why we believe that lactate testing is vital for the optimal development of an endurance athlete. At its best, it gives you precise heart-rates and training parameters like power output and speeds that are not available from any other method. Furthermore, not only do you learn what training works for you but you also learn what doesn't work. This is always valuable. It saves you from repeating mistakes and wasting time. For example, imagine getting 6 weeks in to a 12 week training program and doing a repeat lactate test. Imagine that the test tells you that your aerobic system has not improved sufficiently enough for the planned increase in volume that you had in mind. That's information that you need to know. You can now change your training plan to reflect what you've learned, so that you continue to progress over the next 6 weeks and so that your racing experience is more successful. Perfect. What if you hadn't done the test? Chances are, you'd have ploughed through the increased mileage, overstressing an already weak and undeveloped aerobic system and ended up getting slower and slower, even over-trained. The race would pass miserably and you'd be left wondering what happened.

Furthermore, lactate testing is just as important for the Novice athlete as it is for the Elite athlete. If you are genetically gifted, you can get to high level in endurance sports based on what you were born with. At the elite level, lactate testing helps refine training and improve already high standards. At the Novice or Age Grouper level, genetic talent is limited so you need to maximize what you have. With blood lactate testing you optimize your training so that every second counts and so that you maximally develop your potential to its highest possible level.

Can you improve without lactate testing? Of course you can, to a degree. But how much guesswork are you willing to involve and how much time have you got to waste? Let's face it - training is hard work. It's not always fun so you want to guarantee that what you do works for you optimally. You want to make the most of the time that you have available. You can wander through the various books and pick up new ideas and try things but the reality is that the fastest way forward to peak performance, National team qualification, Hawaii ironman qualification and everything you want from your sport, is through rapid and continual development. That comes from good planning and monitoring the success of your training.

At Dynamic Health Services, we believe that lactate testing is vital for the optimal development of an endurance athlete. During an exercise test, blood lactate samples are taken along with other key data while you exercise at gradually increasing efforts. We then look at your goals and the data and prescribe a precise set of training parameters for you based on heartrate, power and speed. These parameters are easy to use, practical and as accurate as you could possibly get.

Lactate testing is at the very core of all Dynamic Health services. It's your guarantee to success. It keeps you on track, all the time - always progressing, always faster!

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