The running speed at lactate threshold, where the body produces lactate at the maximum rate it can clear it, typically sustainable for 15-60 minutes. This pace improves the body's ability to buffer and clear lactate during intense exercise.
'Threshold' comes from Old English 'þrescold' meaning doorway or entrance point, while 'pace' derives from Latin 'passus.' The physiological concept was identified in the 1960s when scientists discovered the lactate threshold as a critical metabolic marker for endurance performance.
Threshold-pace training was a game-changer when Jack Daniels popularized it in the 1990s, showing runners they could dramatically improve performance by training at this 'comfortably hard' effort. It's often described as the pace you could maintain while speaking only 3-4 words at a time!
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