Since Base 1 is over, I did my second lactate threshold test at the shop. The first one over a month ago was wrong - we discovered that the HR sensor is not correctly picking up my heart rate (it said my LT was 140). Obviously it's wrong if you are about to pass out and your heart rate is only 110. I had my own HRM turned on, so we used that to determine my lactate threshold.

I don't have a good understanding of the LT, but from what I do understand it is the point where your breathing goes from labored to gasping for breath like a chain smoker. The change in breathing is an interesting event because there is a definite point where you can tell that it changes. That happened for me around 175 bpm at 230 watts of power. I managed to hang on for the 250 watts interval of two minutes, which is an improvement over a month ago when I couldn't hang on for long at 230 watts. My HR went up to 187 before I blew to pieces.

I'm not sure if this number is correct, but the test did at least provide me with a baseline for future comparisons. The goal is to be able to last 30 minutes at my LT.

Since the weather was so good and I had some vacation time to burn, I took the afternoon off and rode for about an hour before my LT test. Hooray for the warm December.

Afterwards I found myself without a recovery drink. It's good to put something down immediately after a workout. The best emergency recovery drink substitute is chocolate milk, readily available at most service stations.