Seriously I wouldn’t go that far, there are two types of anaerobic workouts:
- anaerobic capacity
- anaerobic endurance (repeatability)
San Joaquin is an anaerobic endurance workout, the template for these workouts is something like 1:2 or 1:2.5 ratio. San Joaquin is 15s on / 45s off, so its 1:3 ratio.
The whole goal is to produce high power, well above your vo2max (4-6 minute) power, and to mentally prepare you to do it repeatedly. I say mentally because these workouts hurt, just like in a race where you’ve got to do it on steep pitches or to cover attacks.