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My HR at LT1 has been constant for 30 years (taking into account different protocols over the years). Did my first test at 17. 30 years later, same HR. You actually don’t need to test that often.
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For high volume athletes LT1 provides a nice cap for not overdoing it. I go by feel (in my legs) but cap at HR@LT1. Endurance rides can turn out quite long and intense this way. Very frequent La testing during long rides gave me a very good understanding on how well HR and feel match La (and sorry, I know DFA a1 is everyone’s darling currently, nope). This allows me to tolerate a very high work load, currently my main metric for training. I look at the 7d rolling sum of work. Compared to previous years it is at higher boundary. What’s different, I never feel that tired despite doing so much work. This is such a notable difference. However, I also eat a crap load of carbs this time. this has such a huge effect on recovery.
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