Lactate Threshold Testing

My brother Thurlow used to check his swimmers by taking blood samples. He had several coaches who would send him the readings and he would send back info to the coaches. I don't think I need that, I can physically tell when I have a build up. Here is a little article about it www.unm.edu/.../lactatethreshold.html

Beth Here is the link for the monitors. www.lactate.com/index.html You also need to factor in the cost of strips and control reagents. It is not cheap but if you want a coach to do it at a facility in this area it starts at $200.00 a test and one test is sort of useless in a training year. In that context the cost of a strip and reagents and the initial price of the monitor is reasonable. There is a good deal of info to read on the site as well. Another question I have is what do you do with the data in terms of planning and modifying workouts to meet your goals. I guess Olbrecht addresses that in his book at length. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy. My interest in all of this is mostly academic as I am not talented in the pool just like the science of it all. Yes I have been accused of always requiring a learning curve in my life. True! Spudfin

George Thanks for the link to the article. It was very interesting. In my readings it is interesting to note that blood lactate production is very different across the board for different athletes. I have played with heart rates and RPE as well and was shocked to learn that my HR was way higher than my RPE would suggest in the beginning and now my RPE is way higher than my actual heart rates. Benefits of training!!! I am interested to know the lactate levels versus HR versus RPE and how my training regimen can alter the blood lactate levels. At the end of the day if I change the way I train in reference to blood lactate can I swim farther faster with less pain. And on and on my brain goes. Thanks for the article. Spudfin

There are many ways to train, we have max V02 not to be done more than twice a week. Where people go wrong is that it they consider that Max V02 is to swim at lactate threshold. Lactate threshold should only be done once a month if ever. Max Vo2 is done at a lower HR than lactate threshold swimming. I will have to go into my wife's computer as mine does not have Quattro Pro I need it to read my brother's program. I will get the standards and post the differences later her computer is in for repairs. I will have it back in a few days. It needs your resting heart rate, age, male or female, it gives you the work outs for all four types of training. Plus lactate threshold swimming. Females have to do more then the men to get results. The program also requires the race you want to compete in. It handles all of the strokes. My brother took the east german scientific reports and it does everthing automatically, he used to sell the program to several coaches. I am trying to put it on my nonprofit web site but I am not the computer expert I thought I was.

George I would really appreciate that sort of data. Hope you get the computer fixed. Many Thanks in advance! Spudfin

Wow. I've always wanted to do that testing just to see if I am truly a sprint only swimmer or if I should train some middle distance. I did both when I was younger but have gravitated towards the sprints the older I get (and the less time/energy I have to put in the yardage!). Where do you get the monitor and how much does it cost?

When I was on the Resident Team 10 years ago, we used it ALL the time. Sometimes we'd do test sets and get our fingers (or ears) pricked and get an instant readout of how tired we were. For example, I would do a 2,000 LCM *** and find out how high my lactate levels were. We did this test every other month, I think. Every time, my lactate level decreased, which meant I was getting better at maintaining a good speed for that distance. We also did it for sprinting. Used mostly to judge my rate of recovery. I'd get blood taken in the middle of the set, at the end and five minutes later to judge recovery. After a while, you don't feel the needle puncturing your skin. I don't know how much they cost for "ordinary" people. I'm sure USA Swimming got them for a bargain. And I don't know what kind we used, but it looked like the diabetes monitors that you see on TV, only they measured lactate, not sugar.

Just put the program into my computer. I am 74 Resting heart rate 60 Aerobic min heart rate 111.6 Aerobic max 128.8 Aenerobic Threshold min 128.8 AenerobicThreshold max 137.4 Max Vo2 min 137.4 Max V02 max 141.7 Lactic Threshold 142.56

Lac/Acid Tolerance Duration of reps, 30-60 sec 2-2.5 min, # of reps 4-6, 8 max. rest interval 5 min to 30 min. Work to rest ratio 1:2 or 1. (1-7) Lac/acid 12-18, 20 max Heart rate near max. early season 85% later season 95% I will ad the rest later. Sorry this is going to have to be put on the website for you to completely understand it.

If you have a goal to swim 50 yards or 50 meters in 22 seconds. Lac Tolerance 10 X 50 at 23.98 sec start a 50 every 1 min. Max Vo2 15 X 50 at 25.1 sec start a 50 every 44 sec Aenerobic Threshold 30 X 50 at 27.7 sec start a 50 every 35 sec.