Stuff wot I is learned today - Snippets picked up from using a coach. Item 6 - "Activate lactate shuttling" as part of your warmup prep for shorter races.
11:22pm, 16th Jan 2025 | 10 Comments
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Here's an interesting one I picked out during Thursday's "Hot Seat" session with Dr Will.
We've all heard of lactate (lactic acid), right? How an amount of lactic acid is good as a fuel source and how too much of it can right royally bugger us up during a race. But have you ever heard of the theory of "activating lactate shuttling"? I certainly hadn't. Well apparently, the theory is that it can be a really useful tool for getting ready for shorter races, say 5k and 10k as an example.
How it "theoretically" works. (I'm certainly no medical expert here, so please don't shoot me down if I get this a bit wrong. Probably worth a Google if you want the full and correct explanation). I'll use running a fast 5k ParkRun as an example. So, you need to do a proper warmup. Something like 15-20 minutes of "open", relaxed jogging. However, after about 5-6 mins, you put in a 1km rep at 5k race pace and then drop straight back down to jogging for remainder of your warmup. In theory, this effort should have been enough to activate your lactate and given you a shot of fuel ahead of your 5km race. So, when it actually comes to the race, you won't have to "activate" your lactate and there's already a nice small hit of fuel in the tank, ready and raring to go.
It's as simple as that. I shall be giving this a little prod for this weekend's ParkRun. I'll let you know how it goes.
Dr Google results can be viewed here for more sciency type research on the subject - scholar.google.co.nz
We've all heard of lactate (lactic acid), right? How an amount of lactic acid is good as a fuel source and how too much of it can right royally bugger us up during a race. But have you ever heard of the theory of "activating lactate shuttling"? I certainly hadn't. Well apparently, the theory is that it can be a really useful tool for getting ready for shorter races, say 5k and 10k as an example.
How it "theoretically" works. (I'm certainly no medical expert here, so please don't shoot me down if I get this a bit wrong. Probably worth a Google if you want the full and correct explanation). I'll use running a fast 5k ParkRun as an example. So, you need to do a proper warmup. Something like 15-20 minutes of "open", relaxed jogging. However, after about 5-6 mins, you put in a 1km rep at 5k race pace and then drop straight back down to jogging for remainder of your warmup. In theory, this effort should have been enough to activate your lactate and given you a shot of fuel ahead of your 5km race. So, when it actually comes to the race, you won't have to "activate" your lactate and there's already a nice small hit of fuel in the tank, ready and raring to go.
It's as simple as that. I shall be giving this a little prod for this weekend's ParkRun. I'll let you know how it goes.
Dr Google results can be viewed here for more sciency type research on the subject - scholar.google.co.nz
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Mark J ๐ณ๐ฟ
I'd been a body abusing, clubber for so many years until my wife inspired me to start running. I used to run well at school but stopped on leaving, took up smoking full time and didn't put any running shoes on again until 2008. Didn't really take it too seriously (just over 500 miles across three years) until 2011, when I entered my wife and I in to our first marathon. The mileage went up and so has the addiction. Personal goals โ Iโve gone way over where I ever thought possible. So now itโs just a case of keeping at a level and as long as I am enjoying, Iโll just keep on putting in the effort.Profile | Blog | Other Blogs