Fitness test, strange lactate results - please help

I had a fitness test done back in December to test my training zones, it was done by taking blood lactate and HR readings at 50W intervals up to 350W with each interval lasting 5 mins.

The results showed that I needed to do a lot of base work and so my coach structured my training around long steady rides at low wattage.

Ive just had another test done this week and... my lactate readings are higher but my HR is lower at every interval!!!

Coach thinks it may be down to me spinning at a higher cadence than last time or that I suffer from anxiety before testing and hence my body releases something (cant remember what it was) that can effect the lactate results.

We did a 30min hill climb to test max power and I averaged 40W more than in December but havent really started interval training yet which was strange but could coincide with my HR being lower during the test.

So I guess my question is - why in hell if I followed the plan precisely do my training zones look almost identical?? We compared 5 other riders doing similar plans to me and their zones shifted dramatically in the same period...

Any help would be much much appreciated as coach doesnt have a definate answer yet - he has never seen this happen before.

Let me flip this around. Why do you care about Lactate levels and HR if you're obviously faster?


Sounds like time for a new coach.

A faster cadence and secretion of a little extra epinephrine (adrenalin) due to nerves could indeed both contribute to an elevation in lactate levels. So too could higher muscle glycogen stores, due to additional rest and/or an elevated dietary carbohydrate intake. W/o seeing all the data from your tests, though, it is hard to say exactly what is going on - maybe you could post your lactate level at each power output?

One comment I would make is that with 50 W increments, the resolution of such a test is quite poor - at best you might be able to determine your LT (however it is defined) +/- 25 W, which really isn't worth the trouble.

I can supply word docs of them to you if you like?? They are in a graph and I dont have the actual data

Its funny though, I did have some additional rest - i only rode twice in the two weeks previous... How did you know this??? I am impressed!!

Sure, pop 'em my way @ acoggan at earthlink dot net.

Don't be - any well-trained exercise physiologist would have been able to tell you the same thing.

BTW, did they measure your blood lactate at/near the end of the test? If your submaximal levels were elevated simply due to plenty of rest and/or higher-than-usual muscle glycogen stores, then the maximum value might therefore be higher as well. One way of correcting for this is to draw a straight line connecting the resting/initial lactate concentration to the highest value measured at the end of the test, then defining "threshold" as the point on the lactate-power curve that is furthest from this line (the so-called Dmax method). That might provide a better understanding of any training-induced changes (although not scheduling such a test at a time that you weren't on the bike regularly would have been a better approach).

I'm sorry but this is funny. Mr "Burns" talking about "lactate" results. Was that intentional?