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For one million dollars. name the zone that wins every race over 4 kilometers long. Is that your final answer? If you answered the lactate threshold zone. you are correct! You have the knowledge to proceed to the final round, where you can train wisely and specifically to maximize your aerobic output. That, combined with a good portion of talent and a carefully planned career, can put you in a position to someday negotiate a fat contract. Congratulations!
Threshold is the zone that wins. No matter what your gift, whether you have the ability to sprint or your forte is the thin air of a grimpeur, it is the development of power at threshold that will deliver you to the finish line first. The sprinter must make the selection to be in the running for the final 200 meters. The climber must be able to make the first group without going into lethal oxygen debt and make a run at the K/QOM. A time trial specialist must be able to create and sustain enough wattage at threshold to take the spoils.
Like any other zone, lactate threshold is developed through specific training. Problems occur because many athletes think it's possible to develop all training zones simultaneously, so those athletes make the mistake of doing all elements in every training week. The fact is, there simply isn't enough time in a one week period to properly address all the training zones and stimulate growth. Your body doesn't have the energy to recover from such a hellacious torture.
The human organism best develops high end output in reverse. Base endurance zones are developed, to lay down a good foundation for this tall structure of good form. The base is followed by transition and then a careful building period designed to grow output at lactate threshold. The super-intense VO2 and CP (creatine phosphate) zones are best developed in hard, early-season races, because the recovery time needed to properly recharge from these intense efforts leaves little time for more than racing and recovery. Moreover, work done in this incredibly intense zone is harder on your body than threshold work by a ratio of more than five to one. That means that ten minutes spent burning at VO2 could translate into fifty minutes of threshold work. Thus, the wise choice is to forego the ten minutes in the burn and opt for fifty minutes in a zone that will ultimately help you win the race. By spending your training time at threshold, you are ripping the legs off your competition. Your significant power at threshold means they will have to go into VO2 just to hang with you while you are comfortably (a relative term) at threshold.
It is important to know what you are experiencing at threshold and to make sure your perception is accurate. Know that lactate threshold is a fleeting number, not a fixed target that will stand still while you shoot at it. It will move up or down depending on your fitness and level of recovery. If your body needs a day of recovery, an intense work will load lactate at low levels not found in racing, and you will be best served by a recovery ride instead of a threshold session. If you are recharged and feeling your oats, you will notice high cardiac and wattage outputs, and your threshold for that session will be at higher levels of both.
Be aware of your heart rate at threshold. You may notice that your threshold is moving up, which is a sure sign of form coming on. Or you may notice that your levels are depressed, which is a sure sign of fatigue. I have a rule of thumb that my trainees are sick of hearing: Never force a workout on depressed levels. To grow threshold output, it is essential to train at optimal levels. It requires a great amount of energy to train at threshold, and time spent at low output is beating a dead horse, and digging a hole. Recover well, and wait until you have good levels before you train at threshold. It will require flexibility, and many times it will foil your plan, but it will also keep your progress on track by not allowing you to get fatigued.
It is critical to hone your perception and not err on the side of VO2 work. Many an athlete has crashed and burned due to a slight misperception of lactate threshold. Approach threshold from a conservative baseline, that you know is below the point of lactate accumulation. As you ramp into threshold, take an inventory of your output, your respiration, and your perceived exertion. Can you go higher without going into debt? Are you laboring or can you sustain without loading? Tickle it higher, until you are certain that you are loading, and then back off to your highest sustainable output. Record it for posterity. The worst scenario is mistaking VO2 for threshold, and blitzing your body with intensity from which you will not easily recover, and that will keep you from training at threshold by that factor of five. A couple of boo-boos like are not problems, but a trend of mistakes can lead to premature fatigue, form that comes on too early and poops out quickly, and a roller coaster ride of unpredictable outcomes for the rest of the season.
Don't worry about sprints and VO2 workouts. When you have your lactate threshold zone adequately developed to deliver you to the vicinity of the finish line in front, then you are ready to back off from that phase of development and work on your finishing skills. The super-high end will only deliver if you can make the selection that allows you to capitalize. Winning the sprint for bragging rights in the laughing group is hardly glorious. Develop your threshold and then let your high end finish it off amongst the leaders. At that point, you'll need to figure out how to deal with flowers, stuffed animals, pretty girls, and fat contracts.