When does it go from aerobic running to anaerobic?

Both systems are constantly used. It's not one or the other. It's a mix.

If anything it goes from anaerobic to aerobic.

Anne Aerobic wrote:

Both systems are constantly used. It's not one or the other. It's a mix.

Ever heard of the 100m dash?

There is an aerobic contribution to sprints. Small, but measurable.

Sprint coach wrote:

There is an aerobic contribution to sprints. Small, but measurable.

Correct. And sprinting even enhances aerobic power.

Awesome thanks for the replies so far everyone. I usually just do what my coach tells me to do ya know, so I'm trying to understand the different systems better. I think it'll make me a better runner if I understand it all. How does sprinting help aerobic power? I saw someone said it goes anaerobic to aerobic..?.. is that why the most races start out hot, then they get in rhythm, then try to kick at the end?

It doesn't go from one to another. They work together.

Sprint coach wrote:

There is an aerobic contribution to sprints. Small, but measurable.

Yeah, it's somewhere in the vicinity of 4-8% for 100m, i.e. negligible. It'd be interesting to know what the aerobic contribution to 60m or 40yds looks like, if it exists at all.

Probably a dumb question wrote:

Awesome thanks for the replies so far everyone. I usually just do what my coach tells me to do ya know, so I'm trying to understand the different systems better. I think it'll make me a better runner if I understand it all. How does sprinting help aerobic power? I saw someone said it goes anaerobic to aerobic..?.. is that why the most races start out hot, then they get in rhythm, then try to kick at the end?

What the above poster said about going from anaerobic to aerobic, means that at the start of a run, the heart and circulatory system aren't warmed up yet, so they aren't able to send as much oxygen to the muscles as they would after a minute or so of running. This means that the muscles are forced to produce more of their energy without oxygen (anaerobically) than once they are warmed up.

As far as what your coach is talking about....it's hard to say. Those terms are thrown around in so many different ways that they are almost useless. The best way I can describe the paces to you is like this:

Go out and run as fast as you can for 20-30 minutes with the following rule, if you feel any fatigue, you have to slow back down to a pace that doesn't produce discomfort. Your average pace over the course of the run is probably close to what some coaches and physiologists refer to as the lactate threshold. If you go faster than that pace, you are starting to produce a larger percentage of your energy output without the use of oxygen. The further you go above that pace, the more energy you are producing without oxygen (and the more quickly you will fatigue). By this rationale, Mile race pace is more anaerobic than 2 mile race pace, and 800m race pace is more anaerobic than both of them.

Beware of these terms though. I recently heard a very well respected coach use the term anaerobic more along the lines of very hard, fast intervals with short rest. You can have a very anaerobic session without ever really feeling winded. I bet if you went over to your sprint group on your track team and worked out with them on a maximum speed day, or a day when they are doing block starts, you would be getting the vast majority of your energy from anaerobic sources, but the workout probably wouldn't feel that hard to you at all.

Best thing would be to ask your coach exactly what you s/he is talking about with the terms anaerobic and aerobic.

Every answer so far is pretty much right.

CoachB wrote:

lactate threshold. If you go faster than that pace, you are starting to produce a larger percentage of your energy output without the use of oxygen. The further you go above that pace, the more energy you are producing without oxygen (and the more quickly you will fatigue). By this rationale, Mile race pace is more anaerobic than 2 mile race pace, and 800m race pace is more anaerobic than both of them.

Mind that going above "lactate threshold" increases your oxidative metabolism in addition to anaerobic. The acidity generated by the anaerobic makes more oxygen available to the muscles. So the above doesn't mean the mile's O2 consumption rate is lower overall than than the 2 mile's, only lower relative to its own anaerobic contribution.

Wow! Thank you all for the responses. I seriously appreciate it so much. If you don't have the strength quite yet due to injury or maybe you're in the base phase still, but for whatever reason you come back and race soon, if you have been aqua jogging and on the elliptical can you still run a solid time off being aerobically fit? Or would the lack of muscle turn the run into anaerobic quick? This doesn't apply to me but it's something I've always wondered. Also, would a long run be the most aerobic run? Or would that probably be a recovery run with it being shorter? Once again thanks everyone. This is turning into a really good thread.

You can estimate the pace but it can only be precisely measured in a laboratory. Anything faster than your VO2 max pace will be anaerobic.

You can use the MyRunCoach android app to calculate various times such as VO2Max. Enter a recent race time and it will calculate VO2Max , LT, Easy Pace.

What people mean when they use the term 'going anaerobic' is that they are breathing harder and harder. This is partly because the anaerobic contribution is producing acidity in the muscles which needs to be buffered and the side effect of this is more carbon dioxide production, which causes breathing rate to increase. This can happen when the aerobic contribution is 85% and the anaerobic contribution is 15%, in races such as a 5k, but the production of carbon dioxide and the increase in breathing rate is gradual.

Anne Aerobic wrote:

Both systems are constantly used. It's not one or the other. It's a mix.

This is correct.

Depends on who you ask. The real definition of aerobic and anaerobic, scientifically speaking are different than what the real definition is in the running community, that operates pretty much with its own lexicon.

But if you are to ask a Lydiard type coach or runner, right or wrong, scientifically speaking, for the purpose of going at the appropriate effort:

Being aerobic is the ability to run or exercise at a rate that allows you to take in a sufficient amount of oxygen and use it at the effort.

Being in an anaerobic state is about going at a hard enough effort where you cannot take in enough oxygen to satisfy the working muscles. You have to slow down or stop to recover.

800m race is marginally more aerobic than anaerobic, still. 5,000m I think is about 87% aerobic...80-something anyway and a 10,000m is 92%? I guess it depends on how hard you go. 60-minutes racing is about Anaerobic threshold for elite athletes....

So in a slow, tactical 10k on the track, the guys who get shot out the back, drop into an anaerobic state on the surges that the front of the pack put in....but to do that, you must have a bigger aerobic engine....

Again if you talk to a scientist, they will tell you that the words have different meanings, personally I use the above.

Aerobic is a Greek word, yes? Meaning: "with oxygen"

Anaerobic ...."without oxygen"? something like that.

Now this is all fine and dandy, but if you were to run a poor program, then who cares if you have the definition down one way or the other!!!

For me, it tends to switch to anaerobic at the point in a race when all the fast guys decide it's time to start racing. Then when I give up a few minutes later and slow down it's aerobic again.

hobby jogger^3 wrote:

For me, it tends to switch to anaerobic at the point in a race when all the fast guys decide it's time to start racing. Then when I give up a few minutes later and slow down it's aerobic again.

Hahahahahaha

/ thread

Bump to front page because the conversation here is good.

Anyone?