Ask a Pro: How to train Lactate Threshold

Dear Phil,
What's the best way to increase lactate threshold?

Lactate threshold (LT) is the point at which your muscles start producing lactic acid at a faster rate than they can clear it. That makes your LT effectively your average power for a 1-hr time trial. This is a very important number for you to know if you train with a powermeter, as it lets you calculate your training zones.

You train your LT zone the same way you train any other zone: ride in that zone. A good LT ride is 3 hrs with 2x20 min LT efforts. That doesn't mean do a 20-minute time trial twice in a ride, which might kill you. You're doing a 1-hr time trial pace for 20 minutes, so it's not an all-out effort. Do that workout a couple times a week, and you'll see your LT start to creep up. Keep in mind, though, 40 minutes at LT is a lot of intensity for one ride. You'll feel it the next day, so don't overdo it.

If you're trying to improve time trialling specifically, it would be a good idea to do that ride on your time trial bike. Since TT bikes are inherently made for speed over comfort, I like to warm up, do my efforts, then go home and switch to my road bike for the last 45 minutes.