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Lactate Threshold, John M. Kelly D.P.E.

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The purpose of this paper is to review the delicate metabolic balance an endurance athlete must maintain to achieve a desirable performance. The optimum pace is ultimately determined by the athlete's ability to deliver large volumes of oxygen to the working muscles while simultaneously preventing excessive lactate accumulation in the tissues and blood.

Lactic acid has been associated with fatigue for nearly 80 years. This anaerobic metabolic by-product plays an important role in fatigue; however, many of the accusations concerning lactate's role in causing fatigue are unfounded or exaggerated. Its negative reputation is the result of an inadequate understanding of …