New blood test meter for running

Sports & Exercise
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I got a new blood test meter I use for running. And I bet nobody has seen one like it yet…

So first of all, it is not a BG meter. :wink:
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There will probably some diabetes in this thread, since it is somewhat of a tangent to what happens when lactate accumulates (spike city!). But primarily this is about running/exercise stuff for those interested.

This is the lactate meter which I recently got. And I have already learned a lot from using it.

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I have mentioned lactate on FUD a few times.

(As a technical point, you sometimes here people use “lactic acid” and “lactate” interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Lactic acid contains one additional proton and is not produced by the body at all during exercise.)

(Generally people say that lactate is only produced during anaerobic exercise, but I am learning that is not exactly 100% true either. That is also a bit of a fine point to distinguish, I’d like to share about that too.)

A couple of quick definitions:

  • Glycolysis - the breakdown of glucose to release energy and pyruvic acid.
  • Anaerobic- without oxygen

Lactate is produced by your body during exercise and serves as a fuel for your muscles. Anaerobic glycolysis is the transformation of glucose to lactate when limited amounts of oxygen are available. (makes sense, because anaerobic means “without oxygen”).

Here is the formula:
Anaerobic glycolysis - Glucose -> Pyruvate -> Lactate

And your body is able to reuse lactate for more energy, up until that point when you are working so hard the accumulation of lactate is too great

Okay, enough science blah, blah.

I tested a bunch of different times, under various scenarios.

I got a “Hi” reading once, which was exciting. And I got this 22.2m which was also great, because the meter only goes up to 25.0 mmol/L

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The meter is much more tricky to use than a BG meter. You need a really hefty drop of blood. I mean, drop doesn’t really qualify. You need a LOT of blood compared to a normal BG meter.

And lactate dissipates very quickly when you stop running. So the cool thing for me is that I am used to testing while running, so I have done this at the end of the rep or mileage before I stop running. And I bet of all the thousands of athletes and coaches doing this type of testing, there are probably not a lot of them (if any) that are doing it while still running. No, in fact I bet none of them are doing it while running like I am doing! So +1 for the diabetic. :grinning:

Anyway, if there is interest in this sort of topic, let me know and I can discuss some of the cool things about it.

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How fast does it drop after exercise?

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Yes, interested. :raising_hand_woman:t2:

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Anaerobic, right? :nerd_face:

Only a natural reaction to abnormally high lactate?? :rofl:

But where does it go!

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A few disclaimers first…

  • I have only a limited number of tests to base this off of so far.

  • I think the rate it drops is dependent on a number of things. For example, while you may recover fairly quickly after the first few reps, maybe after the 8th your recovery takes a lot longer. So I am hypothesizing that it depends on factors like intensity, what rep you are on, and also a person’s fitness. I think your body adapts to training stress, so I think as you develop your fitness, you recover faster and your lactate dissipates faster. Basically, I do not think there is a rule that applies the same to everyone.

  • Again, limited number of tests, I am just guessing on that!

  • The meter shows date, hour, and minutes, so in the example I am showing below, it could be anywhere from 1 minute to 1 minute and 59 seconds. So there is a bit of a question on the exact time which I am not sure of. :man_shrugging:

Anyway, all of that legalistic stuff aside, what I saw last week was amazing. Check this out!

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And one minute later…

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That’s why it’s cool to be able to test while running!
:+1:

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Yes, thanks for mentioning that. I mistyped it and have fixed it. I always want these things to be correct, so I appreciate the eyes on it. :+1:

Well, it is! Because there is a difference between high lactate from liver disease, which would be really horrible, and high lactate because you are kicking ass, which is really pretty awesome. Just like being sore from a workout really feels great. :wink:

Ha, now I think you are messing with me!! :grinning:

Lactate is recycled in what is called the Cori Cycle. It is sent to the liver which converts it back to pyruvic acid and glucose through gluconeogenesis. The glucose can then either be used by the muscles if activity is still going on, or used to rebuild muscle glycogen if exercise has stopped.

Did I get that right? Please let me know if I missed something or fill in the gaps!

Joining the collection of other FUD greats who have monikers, I hereby dub you “DL” for Doctor Larissa! :grinning:

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Finally a little fact checking around here.

The only reason I didn’t catch that is because it was in one of the paragraphs I skipped over when reading your post. That and because I didn’t know it. I’m glad DL is on the case. :hugs:

And just out of curiosity, did DL happen to mention that she might be interested in this thread for two reasons? For the exciting science talk for one but also because she ran 10 miles the other day??

It’s okay, I was completely jealous before I was able to pull together words to congratulate her, too. :grin:

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Normal lactate levels…

Depends on who you ask. Some sources say 0.5 to 1.0 mmol/L. Other sources say blood lactate is usually 1.0-2.0 mmol/L at rest. Some sources say normal blood lactate levels are 1.3 mmol/L. And some say 0.5 to 1.3 mmol/L.

https://acutecaretesting.org/en/articles/increased-blood-lactate-levels-a-marker-of

https://health.ucdavis.edu/sportsmedicine/resources/lactate_description.html

Anyway, all my readings were during exercise, so of course they are all high. But as a sanity check, I wanted to makes sure my number was okay when at rest. Just to rule out the possibility that my liver was actually screwed up.

So I did a test when I had not run in a few hours, and I was happy to see a 1.1.

So just wanted to put that to rest before continuing the discussion on lactate.

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This has been discussed on other threads, but here is a short review, because this is part of the reason for doing the lactate testing.

This is a quick simplified explanation, not too detailed, just a general review to start with. And then after that we can get into some discussion on why someone might want to check their lactate level during exercise.

There are 3 energy systems your body uses. First, a quick description of each of them, before we get too far in-depth.

Think in terms of how fast you can run 100 meters versus doing a 10k. In the 100 meter sprint, your body uses fast energy that won’t last. In the 10k, you are using slower and longer lasting energy that can make sure you can get to the end.

In order of fastest energy (shortest lasting), to the slowest energy (longest lasting):

  1. The first is the ATP-PC (adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine) system. (For simplicity let’s just combine this as one. So don’t get all technical one me DL! :grinning:) This lasts only a few seconds. Think of a shot-put or golf swing type of activity.

  2. Next is the anaerobic system, which only lasts a couple of minutes. Think along the lines of a 200 meter sprint, a 400 meter running event, or a 50 meter freestyle swim event.

  3. Finally, there is the aerobic system. This is the slowest, but longest lasting. The aerobic system uses fats, carbohydrate, and sometimes protein for energy use. Any type of long event is going to rely on this system (as well as the others).

This is an important point - your body is always using all 3 energy systems - but the amount that each one contributes depends on the energy demands of the activity. Each one supplies energy at a different rate and a different quantity.

Your body does not turn them on or off, they are always “on”, but they are just contributing a different amount at any given time.

Stopping here for a break to digest that stuff.

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this was not tested in literally any way but after my first time running 10 mi, I remember laying down in my apartment and thinking to myself that I felt like I had when I was in preDKA. I’m curious if that was from high lactate sending me to a tiny acidosis that persisted for a little bit

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I don’t know, I feel that way often. :grinning:

But I’ve never had DKA, so I can’t compare it to that. :man_shrugging:

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