Is Measuring Lactate The Secret To Cycling Success?

Have you ever tried lactate testing? 📊 Let us know in the comments below! 👇

When it comes on my Garmin without drawing blood in real time yes!!
I'm diabetic and have the benefit of getting my blood sugar in real time on my bike computer and it is a game hanger. This will be the same butbeuining your ride to stop no. . . .

"Cycling success" is deciding what your goals are and figuring out what you should do to achieve those goals to maximize your satisfaction and fun. For competetive triathletes and bicycle racers this stuff might be helpful. For the rest of us, who cycle just for fun and who are not interested in competition or improving our speed on a ride this level of complexity is probably detrimental to the goal. GCN has always been geared to the "harder, faster, higher" crowd with occasional segments for the noncompetitive group. I'm just pointing out that there are plenty of viewers of GCN for whom the point is not to maximize speed. I suspect your "slow cycling" segments or the ones profiling people like Hank's dad are pretty popular. I wish you had more of them in addition to segments like this one.

Damn..... mis-read the title. Thought you were going to talk about the amount of Milk to put in your coffee at the cafe stop😂

I didn't ride my bike as much in cooler weather because getting all geared up was a deterrent. Obviously, I'm not a competitive rider and this testing would jut be another deterrent for me. I'm happy to judt go with heart rate monitoring.

I have tried it. Please keep in mind that many things can and do affect the results. Stress and a lack of sleep are two factors that can skew the results. You should also wash your hands before each measurement/test. This is the only method I know to precisely give you your Zone 2 Level. It has been defined as between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L. If you want to build a very good base, then definitely get a metre and the strips. The protocol that some use is that of doing a 60–90 minute step test effort on a trainer and testing three times throughout to get an average. Heart rate and power output are also measured. Over time, the body increases its efficiency. Lower heart rate and higher power output at Zone 2. Keep in mind that in my world, the strips cost $3.00 each. Dr. Peter Attia does four Zone 2 rides at 45 minutes each and measures blood lactate three times during each test. He has been doing it now for 3 1/2 years to build his mitochondrial efficiency. Dr. Phill Maffetone uses the formula of 180 minus your age, and then plus or minus 5 heartbeats to give you a Zone 2 heart rate. In my case, his formula was 10-12 beats lower than the actual. About 80% of my training is in Zone 2, 10% at Vo2max, and the other 10% are spirited group rides. I never feel beat up after a hard ride.

Just waiting for the all in one patch device which measures blood glucose, HR, lactate, and core temp and sends the data to your headunit/watch, and phone.

My dad always said he Got rid of lactate after he lost his legs in a car crash👀

I had lactate and vo2 test this spring, what i won from it was that I got to know that my zone 2 , 3 and 4 is in much higher pulse than expected. That was because of very high treshold. That knowledge let me push ca 10 heartbeats harder in the climbs without fear of getting tired, and also training zone 2 trainings much harder than before. My zone 2 is at 126 to 147 with maxpulse 178. 147 is reasonably intense effort.

We were doing this at our swimming club 26yrs ago...

I am very positive to this training method. Although, I find it unlikely that I (even if I am a too nerdy amateur cyclist, mostly according to my family) will incorporate it in my weekly training. Just for the simple, unfortunate consequence of me fainting after each tiny prick in my finger...

Could someone explain me this Norwegian method? I thought that polarized, almost everything below 1st VT and above 2nd VT was the way yo go, and now this Norwegian are doing just the opposite? I feel like I don't anything now

I'm still working on my optimum alcohol to weight balance and threshold for races

No.

(Following the rule of Betteridges Law of Headlines ✅)

I will slap the first person who stops a group ride to check their blood lactate levels.

I wouldn't call it "next big thing" or "secret". It's been used since the 60's to test training protocols and athletes' aerobic thresholds. An overkill if you don't have a coach that knows how to use it.

Surely, we'll start to see wearable pataches, ala Blood Glucose, if commercially viable. Minute by minute data streamed straight to your phone!!!

Heck no!! I simply started easy and VERY progressively worked up the resistance level and duration on my $100 stationary bike each week. Structured polarized training with two days of rest and one easy day, 6.5 hrs a week and I'm about to hit pro FTP. I don't even use heart rate monitor! I gauge myself entirely by feel and breathing effort and switch from one muscle group to another when one muscle group starts to get sore. I really don't think you need any of these gadgets and gizmos unless you literally race at the top levels where, every second counts and if the volume of your rides puts you in the brink of over-training. But if you're like me who only trains+rides 6.5 hrs a week and doesn't race, you're only wasting money and energy going crazy on stuff.

Conner should make a video about riding a Penny Farthing bike.

Regular testing during your ride - that's very nearly an armful.

All this is complicated. I point my front wheel in a direction and cycle. If I get back home (and without a mechanical), I am the best in the world! lol

We should definitely move away from the traditional power zones and start talking about these thresholds more. Sweetspot is the real zone 3. Tempo is a relic that is basically a conservative buffer between a poor aerobically developed athlete and a well trained athlete. We should replace tempo with lactate or proxy power and hr based LT1 tests, like the hr drift test championed by Scott Johnston of uphill athlete. The bigger base we have, the higher the LT1 hr. That is what having a wide base really means. A wide hr range along the x axis of the graph before crossing LT1.

You'll feel it anyway by your breathing pattern, sensation, and sufficiency. Just read about lactate levels and what they mean physiologically. It's known for decades, as many mentioned "in the comment's section".

Can't wait until Fitbits can be implanted and offer lactate, blood glucose and whatever else

Not everyone is rich enough to have a trainer at home.

Guys I got ao much lactate that it's coming out of my nipples. I'm lactating.

Mainly used by triathletes

Absolutely not!!!!

Some GCN video's have defined Zone 2 as just below LT1, as per this video.
And Zone 4 is the top half between LT1 and LT2, and perhaps slightly above LT2.
Zone 3 is the bottom half between LT1 and LT2, where you don't know if you are in zone 2 or zone 4. It is a low quality training zone.

You don't need to stop to do this test, if you have a tandem. Just get a nurse to site on the back of your tandem doing all your blood testing, and she can shout out all the results.

sitting on top tube of carbon bike is not recommended

After reading (and correcting) a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about Zone 2, Dr San Milan's videos, and lactate testing in these comments, please read this comment for a simple clarification and explanation:

@gcn, Dr San Milan, Dr Peter Attia, there really needs to be some more clear nomenclature around this subject. The goals are clearly to identify
1. the rate of exertion which can be sustained indefinitely without exhausting your metabolic and mitochondrial ability to clear lactate
2. the rate of exertion which will eventually exhaust your metabolic and mitochondrial ability to clear lactate

1 is your Dr San Milan "Zone 2" or Dr Peter Attia "maximum 2 millimole of lactate"
2 is your typical Zone 5 or traditional "Lactate Threshold " or "Metabolic capacity/exhaustion"

@gcn There is clearly much confusion around the lingo and nomenclature surrounding "Zone 2" and lactate generation. If you can keep things straight in your brain, like keeping lactate "Zone 2" clear of all the other "Zone" based relative cardiovascular effort models, and keep all of the various biological systems involved straight in your head, then it is clear what you're aiming for with Zone 2 is "a rate of lactate generation in the body that normalizes at a fixed point" which Dr. Peter Attia has defined as "2 millimole" of lactate, or what this video says is LT1 (yet another number to keep track of). It is clear that LT1 in this video refers to the upper bound of Dr. San Milan and Dr Peter Attia's lactate "Zone 2", as that is the rate of exertion that can be sustained indefinitely, that allows your mitochondrial system to clear lactate as fast as it is produced indefinitely. LT2 on the other hand, is quite clearly your traditional "lactate threshold", meaning, the maximum capacity for your mitochondrial system to clear lactate, before it is fully exhausted its additional capacity and therefore must recover.

But this isn't clear. Just read the comments. People are very confused by all of the overloaded terminology with regard to other training and effort measurement models, and is in need of explicit clarification by @gcn or one of your other guests.

If you mean success at Elite level the answer is no. They've been doing it for decades.

or you could ride hills and improve and or reduce lactate levels

Unfortunately I reckon Conor made the mistake of saying lactate testing enables you to train harder a couple of times. It helps you train smarter by not going too hard. The thing top athletes strive for is consistency and a gentle upward curve is preferable over short unsustainable gains, which in fairness was alluded to. Thing is, it’s habitual.. the mindset is all about smashing it! (Cue guitar solo)

Seems like a lot of effort, think I'll stick to looking in the mirror to work out how ugly I am.

A very eye opening video into what tech devices are available for serious racing types etc. But, as a purely amateur rider, I rely almost exclusively on my 'smile meter' to guage the quality of my ride.😊😉

There is a cheaper way. Eg, if you think your threshold power is 300, pick a course of say 30 miles, then ride it at 200W exactly. Then in a few days ride at 210W and so on. Work out in your mind how comfortable you feel. i.e.I dont need to stop, I dont want to stop, I feel great. The moment the thought of wanting to stop even if its at the end of the ride, then this is lactate talking.

Or you could spend £450 on a lactate analyser. Test yourself then all your mates, then go into business 🤓

Link to where we can buy a lactate meter? Thanks GCN!

my understanding is the zone 2 as described by Dr San-Millan is just below LT2, not LT1 as mentioned.

the gymnastics to hide all the doping might get too complicated though

Nope, nope, nope. I don't shave my legs nor do I ride with a power meter, and I don't do blood based needles very well either. So you won't find me doing this!

Too much :/

If you train on a ketogenic diet you will enhance your muscles' ability to burn ketones as wll as glucose so you can lower your lactate production.

I think over time it'll become another part of the puzzle! More data to analyse. Is it interesting for general riders? No! Will general riders buy into it? For sure! Look at how many riders use power meters! They don't need them, they don't need the £10k bike they're sat on but they have it! If they're happy then why not! It'll be interesting how many weekend warriors I see on the side of the road doing a lactate test in the coming years😂😂😂😂

Sounds like work

I'm glad I just ride for fun.

Get a”fairly accurate reading”???

I hoped that the next big thing might have been getting out on the road and not being fearful of getting splashed by a car

Latest things, fads, fashions, gadgets, gizmos, blah blah blah, just ride your bike, listen to your body and enjoy it.