A Sports MD on Hope or (Hype?) of Continuous Lactate Monitors.

April 23, 2024
Will continuous lactate monitoring revolutionize the way we train, or is just another costly sports-science fad?

"The important thing to remember is that the lactate is not the cause of your fatigue. It is simply a metabolic marker telling you that you’re working hard. However, the lactate is easily measurable and there are (somewhat fiddly) protocols to use it estimate the bottom of Zone 5 via something called the maximal lactate steady state (MLSS), though it is better estimated by CP testing"

LINK

 

A reminder that any metabolic thresholds / lactate thresholds etc are task-specific for a given level of power, heart rate. A different task will have a different heart rate at that threshold.

When sports MDs/allied health professionals talk about threshold training they are talking about during specific tasks eg running, cycling etc.