Lactic Threshold

This past week started my first full week of base-training. Basically in the months of the off-season, as a triathlete, you want to build a good aerobic base of long, slow mileage in order to prepare for the hard training season in the spring. I spent the week either biking on a stationary bike, running at a slow pace, or doing strength training exercises. I have yet to get a membership at a pool (the pool I want to get a membership at is very slow in getting back to me, and they are never around when I have time), so that is why I haven't been swimming this week either.

Last season, I did little to no strength training along with my swim/bike/run training, so this is something that just adds to the mix. So far my strength training has been pretty fun, I was really into going to the gym in high school and the first few years in college, so it is something that is of interest to me. My strength training going something like this:

• Warm-up (1 set of each): 20 jumping jacks, 20 squats, 8 squat thrusts
• Group 1 (3 sets of each):  20 push-ups, 20 high knees, 20 dumbbell rows
• Group 2 (3 sets of each): 20 squats, 20 shoulder presses, 20 mountain climbers
• Group 3 (3sets of each): 20 crunches, 20 hyper-back extensions, 10 squat thrusts
• Group 4 (3sets of each): 25 v-sits, 25 calf extensions, 5 pull-ups

A lot of it is basic strength exercises, using my own body weight. But that is because as an endurance athlete, you don't want to be huge. I just am focused on getting lean and having a strong core.

On top of the start of this new strength training, I am also going to be training the next few months using heart rate zones to build me training efficiency. Last night I took an anaerobic threshold (lactic threshold) test that is going to help me determine those zones in my training at this point. The lactate threshold is a useful measure for deciding exercise intensity for training and racing in endurance sports, and can be increased greatly with training. The anaerobic threshold is considered to be somewhere between 90% and 95% of your maximum heart rate and interval training takes advantage of the body being able to temporarily exceed the lactate threshold, and then recover (reduce blood-lactate) while operating below the threshold and while still doing physical activity. The test consisted of warming up on my bike trainer for 20 minutes, and then spending the next 30 minutes at a "race pace" level, trying to maintain the highest heart rate I could for the 30 minutes (of which I used the last 20 to measure my heart rate). I barely made it before collapsing. I also have never sweat so much in my life, and even soaked through the two sheets I laid underneath my trainer. I ended up with an average heart rate of 185 bbm. 

I am really enjoying this sport so far, I don't know if I have said that before. It gives me the opportunity to try to be an expert in 4 different sports (swimming, biking, running, strength training), which helps me stay in the best shape that I can. It gives me something to look forward to everyday because I always have a different work-out every day, and it's never boring because I am not practicing the same sport everyday. That's it for now, I will update what the results of my lactic threshold test mean for the rest of my training season.