Anyone Use Lactic Acid Monitoring?

[[old] prairiefire]

I started erging in May of this year and find it a great fit for my various health needs and competitive urges. I will never be a speed burner, but I do enjoy some speed work which I have recently started and have seen my times improve. I have appreciated all the shared tips from board members about various training regimens and recently purchased Xeno's DVDs. I also use a heart monitor on occasion. My question to you all is, do any of you use Lactate Pro or other forms of lactic acid monitoring to refine your training? I am a sports med doc and recall doing studies on athletes in the dark ages when lactic acid moniroing was finding its place in the world of sports - but that was cumbersome. Just curious.<br /><br />Prairiefire

[[old] Xeno]

<!--QuoteBegin-prairiefire+Dec 3 2005, 09:13 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(prairiefire @ Dec 3 2005, 09:13 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I started erging in May of this year and find it a great fit for my various health needs and competitive urges.  I will never be a speed burner, but I do enjoy some speed work which I have recently started and have seen my times improve.  I have appreciated all the shared tips from board members about various training regimens and recently purchased Xeno's DVDs.  I also use a heart monitor on occasion.  My question to you all is, do any of you use Lactate Pro or other forms of lactic acid monitoring to refine your training?  I am a sports med doc and recall doing studies on athletes in the dark ages when lactic acid moniroing was finding its place in the world of sports - but that was cumbersome.    Just curious.<br /><br />Prairiefire <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Hi,<br />I use the lactate pro on different individuals several times per week. Have you read the book ROWING FASTER?<br />I hope you have had a great weekend.<br />XENO

[[old] SlugButt]

Howdy!<br /><br />I use lactate monitoring intermittantly. I'm still not very good at getting everything to work right, but am gradually learning to get reliable readings. I'd love to learn about others' experience with it. I've been using it in combination with a formula of maximum speed for 6k minus a certain number of seconds/500m to set training bands. So far, my lactate results for 2mmol and 4mmol appear to mirror the training intensities extrapolated from my 6k times quite nicely.<br /><br />One thing that I've been lazy about is doing lactate monitoring for cross training. In the winter I use a stationary bike for about 10-20% of my training volume/week and have been going off of heart rate, but with an adjustment on my heart rate calculations. From what I've been able to learn, some resources suggest max heart rate calculations for bicycling to be about 2 bpm lower than for something like running (which I can't do - my knees are mush). <br /><br />I've been heavily influenced by Xeno's generous contributions of his knowledge and recommendations on this forum and by the excellent Volker Nolte book he recommends. Also, I started working with a coach on training program a couple of years ago after losing a season of racing to overtraining and overuse injuries. Now I find I enjoy my training more, am not always on the edge of illness and exhaustion, am going at a decent speed for may age, the amount of training I'm putting in, etc. and am still gaining speed.<br /><br />For me, it's hard not to put great faith in the experience and results of an athlete who has been as prominent in sculling as Xeno, or in the results of small nations like Holland that (if I understand correctly) rely heavily of lactate testing to inform their training and do disproportionately well in international year after year. <br /><br />Many thanks for starting a thread on this topic. I very much look forward to learning from folks with more experience and sophistication on lactate and training.<br /><br />David<br />

[[old] cdykstra]

I would be interested in doing this, but don't know much about it. Which substance do you evaluate for lactate content, and how expensive is the process? Can this be done at home, or does it require a clinician of some type? What about reliability and validity? <br /><br />Charles

[[old] Citroen]

<!--QuoteBegin-cdykstra+Dec 4 2005, 06:58 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(cdykstra @ Dec 4 2005, 06:58 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I would be interested in doing this, but don't know much about it.  Which substance do you evaluate for lactate content, and how expensive is the process?  Can this be done at home, or does it require a clinician of some type? What about reliability and validity? <br /><br />Charles <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><a href='http://www.gorow.com/lactate_pro.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.gorow.com/lactate_pro.htm</a> has a lactate tester for USD $425.<br /><br /><a href='http://www.fact-canada.com/LactatePro/l ... lyzer.html' target='_blank'>http://www.fact-canada.com/LactatePro/l ... er.html</a> has the same device for CAD $415.<br /><br />And<br /><a href='http://www.bodycare.co.uk/default.asp?pID=BS481-002A' target='_blank'>http://www.bodycare.co.uk/default.asp?pID=BS481-002A</a> has it for GBP £299 (ex VAT).<br /><br />So it looks like it's possible but outside the budget of most amateur rowers.

[[old] prairiefire]

[<br />[I was thinking of going in with a couple of other area rowers, one triathlete and some bikers and buy a kit as a group. That should make the cost reasonable, if we can figure out how to divide the use time. Is anyone familiar with any protocols that would be applicable to rowers? Like when and how often does one do the testing? <br /><br />Xeno - I'm into your tapes - great stuff for a novice. I really need to make a trip to your studio for an eval of my technique - I'm sure it sucks. I did commit my million plus meters to IronOarsman's team BTW - couple of weeks ago, I think. <br />So under what scenarios do you use the lactic acid test. Lactate Pro seems like a very accurate, user friendly tool.<br /><br />Thanks all for your input.<br /><br />Now, off to row, row, row my boat......<br />Bernie