Lactate Threshold vs. Lactate Tolerance Training
/When training runners, it is important to understand the difference between Lactate Threshold and Lactate (acidosis) Tolerance.
Improving both a runner’s Threshold and Tolerance to lactate are important physiological variables that significantly influence running performance, albeit in different ways.
Lactate Threshold training is aimed at delaying acidosis.
Lactate Tolerance training is aimed at coping with acidosis.
Lactate Threshold training does not help with acidosis tolerance. And Lactate Tolerance training does not improve Lactate Threshold.
This is why it is important to understand the specific training designed to improve both of these lactate variables and the degree what runners will benefit most from each type of training.
As a general rule of thumb, the shorter the race distance the more important Lactate Tolerance becomes. As race distance increases the more important Lactate Threshold becomes.
Lactate Threshold training is important for all runners, especially for runners competing in 10,000m and longer races. In contests lasting 30 minutes or more, the import of using lactate as fuel is a key determinate to performance success. Therefore, a significant percentage of training should be focused on enhancing one’s Lactate Threshold so race speeds can be sustained without slow down due to the presence of acidosis in the bloodstream.
Classic high-quality aerobic running, such as high volumes of sustained periods of steady running, like tempo runs or cruise miles at Lactate Threshold, works best at upgrading Lactate Threshold.
For races 800m to 8,000m in distance the presence of acidosis is inescapable due to the fast speeds (forces) at which these races are contested. Therefore, it is important to compliment Lactate Threshold training with Lactate (Acidosis) Tolerance training to improve the muscles’ alkaline reserves, allowing the muscles’ ability to work in the presence of increased acidosis.
Training at, or slightly above, the intensity where acidosis occurs improves an athlete’s tolerance to the presence of acidosis allowing them to maintain a relatively higher force output despite the increasing presence of acidosis.
For example, for the 5,000m runner typically the last 1,000m of an honest pace race will be contested in an increased internally acidic environment. A workout such as repeat sets of 3-4 x 600m at 3K speed with 1:1/2 work:rest ratio will adequately train the body to continue running fast in the presence of increasing acidosis.
For the miler, a session such as sets of 3-5 x 300m at 800m speeds with a 1:1 work:rest ratio will teach this as well.
A word of caution: effective Lactate Tolerance sessions are very taxing and the recovery from these sessions can be slow, about 2 - 4 days in even highly trained runners. This makes Lactate Tolerance sessions less frequent training sessions, about once every 7 - 12 days.
On the other hand, Lactate Threshold training is easier on the body because the exposure to corrosive metabolic waste products is little to nonexistent, so recovery takes only about 1 - 2 day, or less for highly trained runners, making it a more frequent training session in a runner’s program, up to 2 - 3 times per week.
