Why the study?
To confirm whether blood lactate concentrations can be maintained at moderate to high steady-state values throughout an entire interval training session.
Can moderate to high blood lactate steady state concentrations be maintained during an entire interval training session in trained athletes?
Can moderate to high blood lactate steady state concentrations be maintained during an entire interval training session in trained athletes?
Moderate to high blood lactate steady state concentrations can be sustained for ~20 to 60-min during an entire interval training session at a stable performance.
May support stable-lactate interval protocols in trained athletes; hypothesis-generating for performance optimization and broader populations.
The purpose of this study was to confirm that blood lactate concentrations can be maintained at moderate to high steady state values during an entire interval training (IT) session (repetitions + rest). Forty-eight trained swimmers and track athletes performed four IT protocols consisting of 6-10 bouts between 1 and 3-min at ~5-10 mmol/L blood lactate concentrations with a passive recovery of 60 to 180-sec. Performance times were measured at every bout, while blood lactate concentrations and heart rate during recovery every other bout. One-way ANOVA was performed for comparisons and r-squared for the effect size (ES). Performance times were stable throughout each IT protocol (75 ± 8 and 77 ± 5-sec [swimmers and track athletes]; 67 ± 3-sec [swimmers]; 64 ± 3-sec [swimmers]; and 135 ± 6-sec [swimmers]). Despite some minor differences (p<0.05; ES, 0.28 to 0.37, large), blood lactate concentrations were maintained stable at moderate to high values during each IT protocol (5.85 ± 1.47 mmol/L; 5.64 ± 1.03 mmol/L; 9.29 ± 1.07 mmol/L; and 9.44 ± 1.12 mmol/L). HR decreased significantly from the beginning to the end of recovery (p<0.05; ES, 0.93 to 0.96, large). In conclusion, moderate to high blood lactate steady state concentrations can be sustained for ~20 to 60-min during an entire IT session (repetitions + rest) at a stable performance. This approach can optimize performance by stimulating the metabolic demands and the pace strategy during the middle section of endurance competitive events.
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Mazza et al. (2024) studied this question.
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