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Home Self Test for Lactate Threshold
by George Liolios
For many years I have been following this simple method to determine
an approximate lactate threshold level conducted with on
an indoor trainer. To get the most reliable and accurate data you should conduct
the testing on a day that you are well rested and you should be PSYCHED for a hard
teeth clenching effort. The self-test can be conducted every six weeks or whatever
suits your needs and schedule. Follow the protocol precisely so that you can
accurately track your progress.
Equipment
- Indoor trainer
- Road bike
- Bike computer
- Heart rate monitor
- Pencil and paper
- Tunes
Protocol
- If using a road bike other than your normal rig, ensure the setup is identical.
- Each time you conduct a self-test, use the same type of tires.
- Pump up the tires to the same pressure each time.
- Choose a gear that you can sustain at 90–100 rpm at 1' intervals for the
duration of the test which lasts ~30 minutes (15' warm up plus 15' hard stuff).
- Crank up the tunes.
- Turn your heart rate monitor on and warm up for 15' in the small ring, nice and easy.
- Shift to your test gear e.g., 53x14, and for 1' ride at 18mph (the lower speeds
will be difficult to maintain constant, but do the best you can).
- At the end of 1' record your heart rate, then bump the speed to 19mph for 1'
then record your heart rate.
- Continue to repeat the sequence each minute until you can no longer maintain
the next increase in speed for the entire minute.
- Record your finishing time and heart rate.
- Cool down in the small ring for 5' and you're done.
Analysis
- Plot the data with the speed on the X-axis and heart rate on the Y-axis.
- You will see a linear rise in heart rate as the speed increases.
- Look closely at the graph (near the end): You should see a slight leveling
or knee followed by a rise. This leveling or knee is your approximate LT.
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