After having described the threshold works, let's go further and push the accelerator a little further by delving into the topic of lactic acid and off-threshold works.
First, let's do some physiology, to better understand what happens to our body when we work at the limit.
Let's start by describing lactic acid; which is a toxic product of cellular metabolism for our organism. Its high concentration in the blood causes the so-called muscle fatigue. It is formed when oxygen is no longer sufficient for energy production and an accessory mechanism for the synthesis of ATP is activated, called anaerobic lactacid.
In this process, the necessary energy is obtained without the use of oxygen, thus liberating a considerable amount of energy; as a contraindication, however, a harmful waste substance is formed, namely lactic acid.
In minimal doses this substance is disposed of by the liver, metabolized by the heart muscle and reused for energy purposes.
However, when it exceeds a given amount, which is around 3,9-4 mmlo / L, the body is unable to absorb it at its best. In this way they begin to feel strong burning in the muscles, the intensity must be considerably reduced in a short time.
This is to give some basic information on lactate. But is it useful for the agonist? How should the hiker approach such intense training? What are the methods to train it?
Let's go in order and begin to say that for the agonist it is important to insert workouts that stimulate lactacid tolerance and improve anaerobic power. This is because races require very high rates and having an excellent lactate tolerance improves performance.
Furthermore, training the body at sub-maximal rhythms also speeds up waste disposal processes, cardiac elasticity and respiratory capacity.
In enduro there are many moments where having an excellent anaerobic capacity can make the difference.
The excited phases of a PS are situations where excellent anaerobic capacity is required; a well-trained body is able to avoid shortness of breath and decay in performance. So definitely the agonist must include jobs that stimulate lactate in your schedule.
What to do with hikers?
When I talked about the anaerobic threshold, I said that it was also a workout for the hiker; if we talk about work on lactate, the discussion is more delicate.
This is a training that provides a remarkable athletic maturity, the motivational component also plays an important role; so I would advise against hikers to try their hand at this adventure, as he would not add anything to his driving pleasure, risking to tire his body too much.
But how do you train on lactate?
The key training means is that of interspersed work; depending on whether you want to train lactic acid power or endurance, the jobs can change.
In fact, the burning repetitions that do not exceed one minute allow to activate this energetic mechanism to the maximum; while the ivories in progression, or with exercises such as fartlek, give us the possibility to stimulate our resistance to sub-maximal works.
An example of work is the combined one, where there are a few minutes at the medium, a progression of a few minutes at the threshold and a full shot that lasts from 30 "to 1'30" depending on the level of the athlete.
In this case there is a gradual increase in intensity, which elevates the heart rate. Here the presence of lactic acid will be significant but not maximal; it will be the resistance that will be stimulated to the maximum.
Another method that leads to improving lactacid tolerance are strength-oxygen climbs.
This training tool is often included in a more complex strength program; involves a few minutes (max 4 ') with the SFR method, followed by a stretch of the same time at the threshold. In this case the muscle is brought to work in hypoxia and the subsequent stretch at threshold rhythms forces the organism to move with a greater acidosis.
The last method is that of pure repetitions, short stretches (maximum 1'30 ”) done in full.
In this way, the amount of energy needed is not guaranteed by oxygen; often the pulsations do not reach the maximum values but this is because the heart muscle is not sufficiently elastic to support the needs of the legs.
In this case it is necessary to reach that sensation of muscular pain that prevents the continuation of the effort.
Three tools different from each other both as a method and as an objective, which however have a common denominator which is to put the organism in difficulty; to stimulate supercompensation processes that allow us to improve and justify the efforts made.
However, care must be taken in using this type of training; it is important to be followed by trained personnel, to avoid incurring episodes of overtraining.
