Lactate Threshold (Frenchman OB)

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	23.66 miles	2422 miles
Elevation Gain	718 feet	24.24 miles
Average Moving Speed	16.7 mph	15 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

This was a Lactate Threshold test ride, similar to the ones I did last year. You can find them all nicely grouped here. The Quick Stats data above includes the warm-up and cool-down. The relevant Lactate Threshold portion is the blue highlighted section of the graph linked below (and the data on the left side of the graphic is for that portion of the ride).

The difference between now and last year is that instead of doing a maximum effort 10-mile test (which for me was a little shy of 30 minutes) and using my average heart rate for the whole 10 miles, I am now doing a 30-minute test but using the average heart rate from only the last 20 minutes. Very similar. Just different. I think the current method allows your heart rate to stabilize so that the value is more reflective of reality. Or something like that. Relying on what others recommend here. Of course I myself have no clue!

The nice thing about my current iBike software is that I can still compare to my previous 10-mile time-trial tests since I have all the data...

10-mile TT	7/2009	8/2009	6/2010
Time	29m 21s	29m 18s	28m 40s
Average Moving Speed	20.44 mph	20.48 mph	20.93 mph
Average Heart Rate	156 bpm	158 bpm	160.9 bpm
Average Heart Rate (last 20 minutes)	n/a	n/a	165.9 bpm

So I have definitely improved since last year, which is nice to see. Now I just need to catch up to my dear wife!

Oh, if you're wondering what the LT is all about, you can search for it on the web and there is lots of stuff about it. I basically use it as my maximum heart rate, or the 100% value, and then have various heart rate zones that I try to stay within for specific training purposes. The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association's Heart Rate Training Zones page is a nice summary of what each zone is and under what conditions you should be in each zone.