what is tempo riding?

shming123 said:

what is tempo riding? I know it has something to do with HR and lactate threshold? thanks.

On page 35 of Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible is a chart. Tempo is described as 89-93% of LTHR--Lactate Threshold Heart Rate.

It's one of a series of training zones which riders use to describe the intensity of the work load. Recovery, aerobic, tempo, subthreshold, superthreshold, aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity are all names of heart rate zones.

I'll know more pretty soon. I just got this book today. 😎

gntlmn said:

On page 35 of Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible is a chart. Tempo is described as 89-93% of LTHR--Lactate Threshold Heart Rate.

It's one of a series of training zones which riders use to describe the intensity of the work load. Recovery, aerobic, tempo, subthreshold, superthreshold, aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity are all names of heart rate zones.

I'll know more pretty soon. I just got this book today. 😎

it tends to mean different things to different people, and these differences may change by both being country and area dependent.

for e.g., the zone above fits into what i describe as zone 2 (quality endurance), with zone 3 (i.e., harder work than the one above) being what i may sometimes term tempo.

ric

how can i find out where my lactate threshold HR is?

shming123 said:

how can i find out where my lactate threshold HR is?

there's no such thing! this is a mistake many people make...

LT is the workload (power output in cycling, velocity in running) that elicits either a 1mmol/L increase in lactate over exercise baseline levels (i.e., 2.xx mmol/L), or at a fixed value of 2.5 mmol/L.

Additionally, such an intensity is ~ 10 - 15% less than that which can be sustained in a ~ 1-hr TT. Outside of the lab (research purposes) it's a useless measure.

if you do want to know your lactate threshold, then you really need to go to a sports science/exercise physiology lab, as it's an invasive procedure (i.e., you need blood taking while exercising).

What i guess you want to know is your power output at TT intensities or your MAP.

ric

ricstern said:

there's no such thing! this is a mistake many people make...

LT is the workload (power output in cycling, velocity in running) that elicits either a 1mmol/L increase in lactate over exercise baseline levels (i.e., 2.xx mmol/L), or at a fixed value of 2.5 mmol/L.

Additionally, such an intensity is ~ 10 - 15% less than that which can be sustained in a ~ 1-hr TT. Outside of the lab (research purposes) it's a useless measure.

if you do want to know your lactate threshold, then you really need to go to a sports science/exercise physiology lab, as it's an invasive procedure (i.e., you need blood taking while exercising).

What i guess you want to know is your power output at TT intensities or your MAP.

ric

Is lactate a byproduct of carbohydrate metabolism? If so, riders with a higher proportion of slow twitch muscle fiber must produce less lactate because they would be burning a higher percentage of fats rather than carbohydrate, correct?

Even as late as 1996, this book by Friel, Cyclist's Training Bible, equates AT with LT and VT, and this is no longer thought to be the case.

This lactate production is of concern to me though because it seems like if someone has a low lactate production, he wouldn't have to consume as many carbohydrates, thus reducing the load on the insulin system. This seems like it would be beneficial to general health. But this conclusion follows if lactate is indeed a byproduct of glycogen burning. Is it?