Dr. Genadijus Sokolovas was the USA Swimming Director of Physiology and Director of Sports Science from 2000 and 2008. He has the world’s largest data base of swimmer’s lactate threshold of anyone in the world due to his 20+ years of testing and analyzing lactate thresholds of elite swimmers from Russia to the U.S.A.

Dr. Sokolovas defines lactate threshold as the point of exercise intensity where the body begins to use more anaerobic metabolism as a pathway for energy recycling and accumulates more lactate as a result. If one’s lactate threshold can be improved, then they can handle more physiological stress and improve their endurance capabilities. For open water swimmers and other endurance athletes, this is a very desirable goal.

Training long and training intensely are proven ways to up one’s lactate threshold, but Dr. Sokolovas told U.S. Masters Swimming SWIMMER Magazine that “bi-carbs [Tums, a popular brand sold in the United States] help delay acidosis. As a result, swimmers can sustain a higher intensity during [races] for a longer time.”

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