As endurance athletes, we know that getting enough volume into our training programme is critical in our preparation for an event, and we know that to get enough volume without becoming overreached and overtrained, we need to manage and regulate our training intensities effectively (4, 6). We might therefore plan and programme-specific long-duration training sessions designed to generate low physiological stress within our programme (7). Ideally, we'll use physiological profiling numbers – specifically, knowledge of the power output, running speed, and heart rate at the first threshold or moderate-to-heavy intensity transition – to programme and regulate these sessions (5). For example, suppose we determine that our first threshold occurs at 240 W. In that case, we might cap our long, low-intensity weekend ride at, say ~230 W. We also use this number to help quantify things like training load and how much weekly volume was completed within a specific zone.

This is a...

By Dr Ed Maunder and Dr Dan Plews

Recently, we blogged about the importance of the lactate threshold in long-distance triathlon training and performance. As we discussed, the lactate threshold is also referred to as the ‘aerobic threshold’, or VT₁ and LT₁. In this blog we are going to discuss the importance of the second physiological threshold, commonly referred to as the ‘anaerobic threshold’, ‘lactate turn-point’, or VT₂ and LT₂ (29). We refer to this second threshold as the ‘maximum metabolic steady-state’ (MMSS), and in this blog, we will explain why.

 The maximum metabolic steady-state

 The MMSS refers to the intensity at which we transition from ‘steady-state’ to ‘non-steady-state’ metabolic responses to prolonged exercise. When we are in a metabolic steady-state, exercising at a constant-power or pace will produce stable responses; that is, muscle and blood lactate concentrations, acid-base...