April 15, 2016

So today I did the 2 speed test again. I did it on March 17 and on February 26. First, a 20 minutes warming up:

Then the first 1k, at “head race pace”:

Did that in 265W, 3:39.3. Lactate was 5.0 mmol/L after one minute, 4.6 mmol/L after 3 minutes.

Twelve minutes of gentle rowing at 2:12 pace. Then the “hard” 1k.

Hard it was. Max heart rate 184, average heart rate 178. My original plan was to hold 1:41 pace. I had difficulties from 600m to go and I even saw a 1:49 at one point. Lactate reading was 8.4 mmol/L, one minute after the row, and 8.6 mmol/L three minutes after the row.

The top blue line are today’s results. No wonder I was struggling during the second 1k. I have never seen so high lactates.

I have difficulty interpreting the lactate test results. I guess I will have to reread the lactate guru’s bible. One thing I notice is that I am working in the “elbow” of the lactate curve. Any small shift of the elbow to the left or right, or a slight increase in steepness of the right-hand side will have a very noticeable effect on the lactate curve. Here is my 10′ step test from the end of the fall:

The light blue line is an extension of the >200 W points. For the 318W that I pulled today, that line is at 10 mmol/L.

Next week, I plan to do a 1k OTE erg to get a good score in for the nonathlon, before the erg season ends. I guess I will approach this 1k attempt with fear, after this result. After that 1k, I may have to think hard about the effectiveness of the training that I am doing.