In competitive swimming, as in other competitive sports, lactate tests are commonly applied not only to describe the current metabolic performance of the swimmer but also to define appropriate training goals, intensity and volume, to monitor metabolic adaptations to training and to adjust the training periodisation in order to increase the training efficiency. Mader ([42], [44]) argued in a mathematical model of metabolic energy supply that beside the aerobic activity the lactate production also strongly affects the lactate-speed relation. This finding can explain a lot of contradictory interpretations ([28]) and paradoxes between the evaluation of lactate tests and the performances in competition and/or in training, but it also stresses the importance of examining and considering both the aerobic and anaerobic metabolic components together in order to ensure a reliable implementation of lactate test results ([56]). In the last 20 years, more basic studies support this rather theoretical approach and provide better insight in different factors, other than O2-limitation for contraction, that affect blood lactate concentrations during exercise ([19], [20]). Beside its metabolic metamorphosis, being upgraded from a glycolitic waste product to an important intermediate that helps regulating the metabolic activity, lactate has newly been described as a signalling molecule ([62]) between respectively the metabolic and nervous system and the metabolic and gene expression system. However these finding certainly need more research before any evidence based application in training.
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