Heart Rate or Lactate?

How to set you target heart rate based on lactate test

Question: Have you ever heard something like this while planing a running workouts:

• "Run at heart rate 120"

• "Run at 150"

• "Run and talk"

• "Run as you feel", etc

What to choose? What is a good running heart rate for your health?

Answer: There are 3 workout zones defined by a blood lactate: green, yellow and red.

• Workouts in green zone are good for your health.

• The green zone workouts blood lactate level is less than 2 mmol/l.

• Target green zone workout HR should correspond to your blood lactate level of 2 mmol/l.

The target HR can be found empirically, simply by measuring your blood lactate and HR or with a lactate test.

Every second runner runs too fast

Heinirch Bergmüller in his book "Fit in 100 Tagen" describes the following field test performed in running park Prater, Vienna:

All runners were asked to measure a blood lactate.

Every second second runner was too fast - lactate is higher than 2 mmol/l . Of course, our test took place in winter, where there were mostly no running beginners. In the summer, of course, the result looks worse.

Only one lady ran with a blood lactate of 4.3 mmol/l in the red zone and was surprised: “Am I not running in a comfortable zone?”

Interesting: A good third with their lactate readings could start something; 2 professional athletes (one triathlete, one runner per 800 m), whom we accidentally caught during warm-up or hitch, were in accordance with their self-esteem („with lactate below 1").

One amateur runner made excuses, as if he had an unclean conscience - as if we had caught him when speeding or during an alcohol test: “I know, I'm sure of that. But I was sick and still did not recover. "Unfortunately, not a good argument to run with a blood lactate 3 and again threaten your health!

We stopped two friends who were running nearby, chatting. One moved bravo with lactate 1.3, on the other hand, the “lactate needle” broke into the yellow zone (2.3 mmol/l).

Summary

Setting your target heart rate from lactate test allows you to accurately plan your workouts and control intensity.

References

Heinirch Bergmüller. Fit in 100 Tagen. Residenz (31 July 2007)

https://www.bergmueller.at/