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Lactate, Lactic Acid and Acidosis

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With respect to exercise, what do you think of when I say, “Lactic Acid?” Legs burning? Acidosis? Horrible stuff that slows me down? Lactic acid and lactate typically get a bad rap from athletes, but what if I said that rather than slowing you down, lactate production enables high-intensity exercise? Well, it does. Lactate vs. Lactic Acid      First, let’s discuss the compound itself. Lactate is not lactic acid. Lactate is a carboxylate, whereas lactic acid is a carboxylic acid. This means the carboxyl group of the lactate molecule is deprotonated and cannot contribute further to acidosis.  The image below shows the difference between the two molecule types.      The reason lactate does not exist as it's protonated acid form in the body is because the pKa of lactate is a low 3.9. This means is that in a solution with a pH higher than 3.9, the compound will exist as the deprotonated carboxylate, lactate.  As shown bel...
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Training for Endurance: Progressive Recruitment

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I read  an article on VeloNews  a while back describing how many cycling races are won and lost in the final hour or minutes of racing. And this is generally true, it often comes down to who can sustain the highest power output in the final push to the finish after three, four, or five+ hours in the saddle. Rationally, it makes sense that being able to delay fatigue and enter that last hour of racing with a greater capacity for work will enable an athlete to finish faster. Many of this spring's one day classics have served prime examples - those that produce the greatest amount of power in the end will prevail. Take this years's  Milan-San Remo  for example: after 6 hours of riding, the race hits a series of small climbs before a sprint to the line. This year, it was Alexander Kristoff in the final sprint (after nearly 7 hours on the bike) who took the win - out-sprinting the likes of Mark Cavendish and Fabian Cancellara. When asked about the finish, Kristoff acknowl...
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Death March Revival ITT Ride Report

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 I don't know what got into me Last year my wife, Courtney, rode all three of Tennessee Gravel's  individual time trial (ITT) routes. And she really enjoyed it. But I had very little interest in trying to ride these long, hard routes as fast as possible - all by myself. I saw Chad Hungerford set the fastest known time (FKT) on the Death March Revival (DMR) route last May at 7 hours 41 minutes and I thought, "that looks miserable." I had a hard time imagining putting forth a constant effort, suffering for 7+ hours over these rough roads and long climbs. That said, I did ride the DMR route last May - but I rode it with Courtney and a few friends. It was a long day out at a casual pace, completing the loop in about 11 hours. And that was really enjoyable. It wasn't super exciting - I might rather spend my time ripping down some singletrack, but it was a beautiful day through my favorite mountains. I had also ridden most of the route (excluding the Big Frog loop) with...
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