Ugh.

I forgot how hard rowing was. Its only day 2 of training for the next year and I am already feeling like a broken old man. We did lactate testing yesterday, and it turns out I am somewhat, but not entirely, out of shape. After 3 weeks of sitting on a beach, eating turkey, and drinking coffee, go figure.
Lactate testing is annoying, although a valuable part of our training. Basically it consists of a series of steps on the erg, each increasing in intensity. None of them are difficult, but they get progressively more and more annoying. In between each step, we are stabbed on our finger, and a tiny sample of blood is taken and measured.
The idea is behind lactate testing is that your speed and heart rate (the two metrics we look at on a daily basis) vary depending on your genetics and fitness, as well as your hydration, your fatigue and how fresh you are. What is an easy pace one day might be a difficult pace on a different day. Likewise, what is an easy heartrate for one person might be extremely difficult for another. Lactate is better correlated with effort. 1.5 mmol is the same training zone for a 55 year old office-monkey as it is for a 22 year old gym-monkey.
Hence, lactate levels can be used to delineate different training zones, which we utilize in different contexts. It also can be used to monitor our fitness; the pace that produces 2.3 mmol today will probably produce less lactate after a few months of training. This can be very useful. In the end though, it is no replacement for hard work.