Again, lactate is portrayed as the evil limiter to performance and that's just not the case. To say
that it "...will be gone from the muscle..." is incorrect. Lactate is never gone, because its
produced continuously (even as I'm typing). Lactate's effect on the body is a dependent on its rate
of production and removal combined. Therefore, there isn't really any danger. The idea that it's
"acid" conjured up images that its burning the muscles, but we're never reaching pH levels low
enough to do much of anything and are certainly not out of the narrow biological window.
The point of my post was really related to many of the unsubstantiated claims made in regards to
stretching. While I am a strong proponent of stretching and improved flexibility, I never overstate
it's true value. Stating that it rings lactate out of the muscle, or even that lactate is damaging
your system is nonsense and bad coaching/advice.
Stating that it reduces injury rates is poor research, as the data suggests it may actually increase
rates of injury among certain athletic groups, but I've seen nothing in the literature to showing a
decrease in injuries. To state that you must stretch more than 30 seconds and as much as 2 minutes
is also nonsense. I've stretched for years using the old advice of 15 seconds and I'm as flexible as
they come.
Having said all this, what good is stretching? We all ose flexibility as we age, which can lead to a
number of problems performing both life activities (everyday tasks) and performance related
activities (like cycling). Flexibility is key for Time trialing, as well. I also feel an immense
recovery benefit from stretching, likely do to the fact that after 80 miles of hard racing and
generating a lot of muscle tension, muscles are tight (ie, they're not returning to the usual
resting length), so stretching helps elongate and relax them. I don't thing lactate or other waste
products really come into play with stretching.
Chris Harnish
warren <
[email protected]> wrote in message news:<070920030906506098%
[email protected]>...
> In article <
[email protected]>, Andy Coggan
> <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > "Mike Jacoubowsky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
> >
news:[email protected]...
> > > > If you sprint all-out to your doorstep the lactic acid will be gone from your muscles within
> > > > 75 minutes. If you do 15 minutes of active recovery (easy riding) after that last sprint (or
> > > > any other effort) it will be gone by the time you get home.
> > >
> > > Really dumb question, but... what are the dangers of having that lactic
> acid
> > > hanging around your muscles for 75 minutes after your workout? Obviously you won't be feeling
> > > as good, but does it affect your recovery for the next-day's ride, or just how you'll feel
> > > immediately after the workout?
> >
> > In theory it might actually even aid recovery, since lactate can be resynthesized into muscle
> > glycogen (at least to a limited degree). A pursuiter racing multiple rounds, for example, might
> > benefit from minimizing their warm-down following the first effort, to avoid oxidizing too much
> > precious carbohydrate. Of course, there are numerous factors that determine how you feel/perform
> > during subsequent exercise, that might mitigate against such a strategy...but I mention it to
> > help counter the image of "evil lactic acid" (actually, lactate).
>
> So how often are sprinters and pursuiters not doing 10 minutes or so of cool-down riding after
> a round?
>
> Just to add to the above... There are alot of other things you'd like to flush out of your muscles
> after a ride to help speed your recovery before the next day's ride-lactate being only one of
> them, so the cool-down and/or massage is important.
>
> -WG
