Increase your lactic tolerance with this simple sprint workout

When your muscles move, they produce lactic acid. On an easy run, your lactate levels will remain at a stable level, but during high-intensity workouts, it’s common to reach or surpass your lactate threshold. This means that lactic acid will build up faster in your muscles than it can be flushed out.

Lactic buildup can cause fatigue and pain, which can slow you down. But there are ways you can raise your lactic threshold and delay pain, which can help you run faster and worry less about bottoming out.

Here is a simple sprint workout to increase your lactic tolerance.

The workout

Two sets of five reps of 30 seconds sprint and 30 seconds’ rest, with five minutes’ rest between sets. If you are on an athletics track, two sets of 5x200m with 30 seconds’ rest (five minutes’ rest between sets)

Before the workout, do a light, low-fatigue five to 10-minute warm-up jog to get your blood flowing.

Each rep should be done at a speed sprint that you can comfortably hold for 30 seconds. You can use your mile or 800m pace as a frame of reference. Use the 30 seconds between reps to catch your breath and get ready for the next interval.

The first set should begin to feel hard after two or three reps, but you should start to feel the lactic build up in your legs after the second or third rep on the second set. The short amount of rest off high-intensity work improves your lactic tolerance over time.

High-intensity workouts like this are a great way to improve your top-end sprint speed, but to avoid injury, they should not be done more than once or twice a week.