# Trobule going past LT



## quatre24 (Mar 18, 2008)

Training for CX intensity mixed with endurance as I finish base up now. Doing intervals the past couple weeks once a week. Been doing endurance/getting fitness back focus with lots of hills from short(1 min) to 10min long since February coming off a sprain ankle. Once while I will do the longer mt climbs. My heart rate will go to just about or below LT and stays there no matter I hard can go many times. No matter the length of the interval. Same thing happens on long mt climbs. I know being able to go over LT will help at times in CX at starts, chasing people down, etc. I just can not figure how to go beyond the LT easily.


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## Peter P. (Dec 30, 2006)

There's no such thing as "going over lactate threshold easily". It's hard and it hurts. At the "end" of your interval, go into a a full-on sprint, to failure. Don't permit yourself to recover fully, then perform another interval.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

1) you might be tired already when you start the workout. if so, that will cause the HR to lag like that
2) for an interval of a minute or so, HR is not relevant - you just go as hard as you can. 
2)a when your effort output is significantly over threshold-ish, HR does not respond in a linear way. What I mean is, it'll often "lag" then suddenly spike as you blow up. 
3) you are training for speed / strength / acceleration, not for a good HR number. Let your legs, cadence and speed be your feedback as to whether your effort is hard enough.


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## bootsie_cat (Jan 7, 2005)

Either you are under-recovered, your zones set incorrectly, or your workouts are structured incorrectly if you have a hard time reaching target heartrates.


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

quatre24 said:


> Training for CX intensity mixed with endurance as I finish base up now. Doing intervals the past couple weeks once a week. Been doing endurance/getting fitness back focus with lots of hills from short(1 min) to 10min long since February coming off a sprain ankle. Once while I will do the longer mt climbs. My heart rate will go to just about or below LT and stays there no matter I hard can go many times. No matter the length of the interval. Same thing happens on long mt climbs. I know being able to go over LT will help at times in CX at starts, chasing people down, etc. I just can not figure how to go beyond the LT easily.


Unless you are measuring blood lactate during your rides, not sure how you can know whether or not you are exceeding it.

HR is not a measure of LT, but we have a HR range that is typical when riding at around LT intensity. But since LT corresponds to an effort level one can sustain for several hours, then I suspect something is up with how you are using HR as a guide to intensity, or what you think LT is.

For shorter harder efforts, HR's utility as a guide to intensity of effort declines significantly to the point of being useless.

HR response of course can be affected by many things unrelated to how hard you are pedalling at the time, so it's not really possible to diagnose what's going on in your specific case - that would require far more detailed knowledge about you and your training. Some have mentioned being fatigued, and that's one possible factor, but there are so many that it would be foolish to assume anything.


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