Finding Your Lactate Threshold
Lactate Threshold, also known as anaerobic threshold, is what most experts currently recommend to use as a starting point for estimating your maximum heart rate. When a person has reached his or her lactate threshold, the heart is no longer able to work hard enough to carry lactate away from the muscles, which results in a burning sensation, generally in the legs. Lactate threshold is considered a better way of determining a person's maximum heart rate than any universal formula, because the typical formula for estimating a person's maximum heart rate, (220 - age), does not take into account the large amount of variation that can occur from one individual to another. Studies have been shown that, even among highly trained athletes, the maximum heart rate as determined by a doctor can differ by as many as 60 beats per minute between two people of the same age.
To estimate your own lactate threshold, you will need a heart rate monitor. Although your heart rate monitor may have already estimated a maximum heart rate based on your vital data, it is still done using formulas that may not be exact, so this can still be a useful exercise. Begin with a full warm up phase, around 10-15 minutes. After this, commence with a running or cycling workout at a slow to moderate pace. Increase your pace slightly every minute, using your heart rate monitor as a guide. Make a mental note of how you feel at the end of each minute; particularly whether or not it is becoming more difficult to breathe.
At some point during this trial, you will find that breathing will become more difficult, and not long after that, the muscles in your legs will begin to burn. At this point, you may stop the exercise. Your heart rate when your breathing first started to become difficult will be the initial estimate that you will use for determining your lactate threshold.
A second way of determining your lactate threshold involves a 20 minute running or cycling workout around a track. To find your lactate threshold using this method, a heart rate monitor is required. After a full warm up, proceed with running or cycling around the track as fast as you comfortably can for a full 20 minutes. The purpose of this is to maintain the highest average heart rate that you can for the 20 minute time frame, so sprinting is not a good idea, because your energy will be depleted quickly. Take the average heart rate that your monitor records during the 20 minute workout, and divide it by 1.02. If the average heart rate recorded during the trial is 160 bpm, for example, then the final result for your estimated lactate threshold will be 157.
Please note that the information given in this article is for reference only, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. This information is designed to help in making your workout program more productive. Only a doctor can reliably determine the maximum heart rate for any individual, because a doctor's maximum heart rate test is performed in a safe environment. Do not attempt to determine your own maximum heart rate unless you are under the close supervision of a doctor.
