What is treshold training ?
With recent new studies, it has been shown that lactic acid produced by the body during exercise is reused by the body for energy. Lactate can be used within the liver to produce glucose but also after breakdown by muscle fibers as fuel.
The goal of this workout is to accustom the body to use lactate wisely and to help save glycogen.
It's also supposed to avoid hitting the wall on a marathon by teaching the body a better reuse of lactates as fuel.
Method
To carry out this training, it is necessary to know its thresholds commonly called LT1 and LT2 (Threshold Lactic 1 and 2) in other words the aerobic threshold (LT1) and the anaerobic threshold (LT2).
The LT1 pace is the pace where the body begins to be unable to transform all the lactate produced. This pace is approximately 78% of your MAS (Maximal Aerobic Speed) or about 80% of your HR Max. It's a pace slightly higher than the marathon's pace.
The LT2 pace corresponds to the pace where the difference between the lactate produced and the converted lactate increases significantly. This pace is approximately 85% of your MAS, or about 90% of your maximum heart rate. This is the pace that is usually referred to as threshold training.
These thresholds can also be determined during a stress test.
Run through
You have to run 3 minutes to run at SL2, for the body to produce lactate, then run for about 3 minutes at SL1 for the body to learn to recycle this lactate. You can do this chain 5 times, it's 5x (3 ’at SL2 + 3’ at SL1) with no cooldown in between.
If you plan to do it on a track or on a calibrated course, you can do 5 x (1km at SL2 + 1km at SL1).
You can schedule yourself one session per week and integrate it into your long outing by gradually increasing the load to reach 2 x 5 x (3 ’at SL2 + 3’ at SL1).
If you are having trouble keeping the pace at SL1, try running at your marathon pace, this will also work your marathon pace and your lactate reuse efficiency at this pace. You just have to beat your record!
Note that there is no recovery phase, it is the SL1 phase that serves as recovery. It would also seem that this training is beneficial for 10 km and half marathon competitions.
I started to integrate it into my general preparation and I used it in my preparation for the La Rochelle marathon where I broke my personal best.
Il faut courir environ 3 minutes à LT2, pour que le corps produise du lactate puis courir environ 3 min à LT1 pour que le corps apprenne à recycler ce lactate. Vous pouvez faire cet enchainement 5 fois, ça donne 5 x (3’ à LT2 + 3’ à LT1) sans temps de recuperation entre.
Si vous prevoyez de le faire sur piste ou sur un parcours etalonne, vous pouvez faire 5 x (1km at LT2 + 1km at LT1).
Vous pouvez vous programmer une seance par semaine et l’integrer dans votre long run in augmentant progressivement la charge pour arriver jusqu’à 2 x 5 x ( 3’ à LT2 + 3’ à LT1).
Si vous avez du mal à tenir l’allure à LT1, essayez de courir à votre allure marathon, cela permettra egalement de travailler votre allure marathon et votre rendement de reutilisation des lactates à cette allure. Vous n’aurez ainsi plus qu’à battre votre record !
A noter qu’il n’y a pas de phase de recuperation, c’est la phase LT1 qui sert de recuperation. Il semblerait egalement que cet entraînement soit profitable pour les competitions de 10 km et de half marathon.
J’ai commence à l’integrer dans ma preparation generale et je l’ai utilise dans ma preparation pour le marathon de La Rochelle ou j'ai battu mon record personnel.