Sunday, March 10, 2013

Lactate Threshold Test

Garmin Connect - Details

Warmed up 10 minutes, then set the treadmill to 8.3 mph after some dithering at 8.2 mph because I was afraid I couldn't hold the 8.3 mph pace. I chose that pace because I am aware that my foot pod would claim I was running approximately 7 min/mi pace and I predicted that I could hold that pace or better for 30 minutes. The test formula I followed states that I should warm up 15 minutes (I didn't have time for that) then run at whatever pace I can hold for 30 minutes. At the 10 minute mark I should hit the lap button and the average heart rate that I had for the last 20 minutes is my lactate threshold heart rate. According to this my lactate threshold heart rate is 180 bpm and the average pace (according to my foot pod) was 6:53 min/mi for the first 10 minutes and 6:44 min/mi for the last 20 minutes. I would be happy with that pace for a 5k. I the the test was entirely fair because I wanted to quit several times because it felt aerobically difficult, but I resolve not to quit. At around 36 minutes of total running (minute 26 of the LT test) I started to feel my leg muscles fatiguing and though I did feel I would collapse at the end I compromised myself to drop the pace to 8.2 for 3 minutes. I did, however, finish the last minute at 8.5 mph.

Good effort. Now I've got to get ready for a race at some point.