My track team had a heated argument during our warmup today. Does a runner ever go anaerobic during a marathon?
One side of the argument says that a runner doesn’t go anaerobic, and what holds them back at the end of the race is muscle fatigue, which is different. Going anaerobic at any point in the race would mean falling short of racing the marathon properly.
The other side of the argument says that if one was truly racing the marathon they would have to go anaerobic at the end, for if they weren’t, they weren’t going hard enough. Just like a 5k, the marathon is about timing the crossing of the aerobic threshold at the right time.
What’s the answer? Does a runner who is truly racing the marathon go anaerobic at any point in the race? Or if a marathon is run most efficient does it mean that the runner never went anaerobic, even in the final 200m on the race?