Running appears to be a fast-growing sport in Oxford as increasing numbers of people pound the city's streets with varying degrees of seriousness.

The trend is also shown by the growth of specialist shops as well as an increase in running gear being on offer in sporting megastores.

A new shop, run oxford, has recently opened in Little Clarendon Street, hoping to tap into this burgeoning market.

But its owners believe their store has an added attraction and invited me to test it out.

I started running regularly two years or so ago, just to supplement my fitness training, but I soon became 'addicted' and joined Oxford City Athletic Club.

Since then, as I have run more regularly and greater distances, I have become more aware of the 'science' of running.

Apparently, it is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other.

This is where run oxford comes in.

The store has teamed up with researcher Martyn Morris from the human performance laboratory at Oxford Brookes University to offer lactate threshold tests at £60 a pop.

Shop owner Graham McAnuff said: "I did my sports science degree at Brookes ten years ago and knew about the work they were doing up there.

"I wanted to provide something different with this shop, something that wasn't normally available on the high street."

For those who don't know - and that included me until very recently - lactate, which is part of lactic acid, is a substance the body produces during exercise.

The harder you exercise, the more lactate you produce.

Having quizzed me on my training, Morris put me to the test, setting the treadmill to 11kmh.

He said: "We start at an easy intensity and then increase the speed at four-minute intervals.

"I will take a pin-prick of blood before we start and then after each interval.

"What we are looking for is the point when there is an increase in lactate. When you exercise, you get to a point when your body no longer utilises lactate efficiently.

"We will then go for one or two intervals about that to make sure we have got the correct point. You will probably be able to run efficiently just below that threshold, but not at it.

"If you go beyond it, that is when people hit the wall. Then you have got to slow down or stop. It's not a case of saying that is as fast as I can run an endurance race. You are not going to be able to sustain your maximum over a three-hour period or more."

You can use this lactate reading as a benchmark for training and see if you have improved over a set period.

I was suffering from a fairly heavy cold when I did the test, so I had a ready-made excuse if I didn't do well!

By the end I was fairly tired and my finger felt like a pin cushion, but the results seemed to be reasonable.

At each stage in the test, Morris showed me a card with ratings ranging from easy to very, very hard and asked me which one I felt.

I also wore a heart-rate monitor and all this information was factored into the final picture.

I went up to 17kmh on the treadmill and Morris asked if I wanted to go faster, but with the sweat pouring off, I decided that was enough.

Morris' s verdict? "A good set of results, considering you had a slight cold. They indicate that you have a pretty good baseline in your lactic acid levels, which is reflective of your marathon training.

"Your lactic acid levels first started to rise around 13-14kmh. This first point is a strong indicator of performance in marathons and from your results, I would be confident that you should go under your previous best of 3hrs 19min."

My actual time in the London Marathon was 3.11.26, so the test seemed to be accurate.

Morris added: "I guess the test never lies!"

Having run a half marathon in less than 1.24, I was slightly disappointed not to get closer to the magic three-hour barrier.

Morris said: "You will be able to run above your lactate threshold level for certain period of time.

"However, at this level of intensity, you are utilising a large amount of your muscles' carbohydrate stores and therefore you will not be able to maintain this beyond a sustained period of time (1-1hrs).

"This is why you can maintain higher speeds for your half marathon, but your carbohydrate stores would not last for the marathon, hence the term hitting the wall!

"Your time is a good improvement on your personal best and I see no reason why you can't improve this further to break the three-hour barrier."

Morris's report continued: "The second very distinct breakpoint in the lactic acid curve, at around 16kmh, is often termed the anaerobic threshold.

"At this speed, you will start to produce large amounts of lactic acid. Around this area is strongly linked with races of shorter duration, 10km for example.

"So I would expect you to be under 37mins for the Town and Gown as long as you have recovered from your marathon effort."

Was Morris correct? You'll have to check out the results on www.oxfordmail.co.uk!