A “high” baseline lactate concentration?

First thoughts: you are probably very fast-twitch with an under-developed aerobic system. And you probably ate before the test, perhaps even several hours before. If you were at 14 mM five minutes after a ramp test, then your peak lactate is probably much higher.

I used to have the same types of readings before my training volume was high enough to compensate for my FT bias. (My peak lactate after a sprint workout was 23. I would get similar readings to yours after ramp tests.)

Between 500-600 hours per year of training volume, I could still hit peak lactates in the 20s. It took a training volume in the mid-700s before lactate was reduced to the teens (in a peak test, not a ramp test). At that point, my baseline lactates were at or below 1.0. (And really, peak lactate may not have been reduced, just more absorbed by the aerobic system.)

In short, I suspect it’s normal for your physiology. (And I think most historical testing of endurance athletes is slow-twitch biased because that’s who’s drawn to the sports and most available for testing.) If you’re curious, do another test first thing in the morning before you eat (and before you get hungry). I suspect you’ll see a lower baseline.

I too appear to have a high baseline lactate level, although I certainly don’t “feel” like I have FT dominance.

I had a lactate panel completed at a university lab where while on a treadmill, the technician would draw 3 blood samples from my fingers and each sample was tested in its own lactate meter. I repeated this test at the same lab with the same crew after 5 months of base training. I did not eat anything before nor did I perform any exercise before the midday testing on both occasions. My baseline lactate from the first test was right around 3.0 mmol/L (early on in the treadmill test this came down to a lowest reading of 2.0 mmol/L at easy effort). Five months later the baseline was lower at 2.0 mmol/L, still a relatively high number (did not have a lower reading during the treadmill test, it just kept on increasing with effort). The baseline readings were done basically when I arrived at the lab; no warm-up, food, etc.

In the 5 months between tests, I averaged 43 hours of training per month and also experimented with my diet, going from high carb around the time of the first test, to low-carb/keto for the last 2 months or so before the 2nd test. I think the change in diet had the biggest impact as the carb/fat usage from gas exchange readings shifted quite dramatically.

Hope this is useful in some way.

Just a question based on some thoughts about the initial query: would the site of the blood sample change the lactate measurement in a healthy person? As in ear versus finger stick or elsewhere? Just wondering others thoughts/observations as venous vs. arterial blood almost certainly differ in lactate levels, so would differing sites have that difference in levels?

Also, speed is not an indicator of fast or slow twitch. For example, I coach someone who is insanely fast and very, very slow twitch.