3. Physiological adaptations - the biology lesson!
3. Physiological adaptations - the biology lesson!
When riding at the correct intensity for base training you should be working aerobically. This simply means you are providing your body with enough oxygen for the intensity at which you are riding.
In turn, lactic acid production is under control. Contrary to popular belief, lactic acid isn’t the nasty stuff that makes your legs burn at the top of a climb. Lactic acid is actually a fuel created in the chemical reaction going on in your muscles when they are burning oxygen to produce energy.
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Within muscle cells there are mitochondria and these are the power stations of your body. It is within these mitochondria that lactic acid is burnt and energy is produced. When the mitochondria in the muscles reach their capacity in terms of how much lactic acid they can process, the additional lactic acid goes into your blood stream to be dealt with elsewhere in the body.
When base training correctly, the level of lactic acid in your blood isn’t elevated. That means the mitochondria in your muscles are able to process all of the lactic acid being produced and don’t need to pass it on into the blood stream for processing elsewhere. By riding at base intensity, you are giving your mitochondria a workout, thus teaching them to process lactic acid, but you are also stimulating them to become better and more efficient at burning fat as a fuel.
If you train too hard then you are teaching your mitochondria to burn more glycogen than fat. This is the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve.
So how long should an effective base training ride be?