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Article History

Accepted: 10 June 2024

First Online: 16 July 2024

Declarations

:

: Open access funding provided by Kristiania University College.

: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this article.

: All data and materials support the published claims and comply with field standards. To protect the anonymity of the key informants, as well as their athletes, the transcribed interviews cannot be made publicly available.

: The study followed the institutional requirements and was pre-approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (reference #605672).

: Prior to the study, the coaches provided a written informed consent to participate.

: All respondents approved the submitted version of the manuscript for publication.

: Not applicable.

: All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Espen Tønnessen and Øyvind Sandbakk. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Thomas Haugen and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. As the authors of this study, we assert that our background provides a high level of expertise and experience in both scientific research and coaching practice arenas, enhancing the qualitative interpretation of these data. Our experience spans over 30 years, during which we have closely collaborated with world-class endurance coaches and athletes, both within the Norwegian Olympic Federation (Olympiatoppen) and various national sports federations. This hands-on involvement includes conducting training analyses alongside coaches, actively participating in training camps, and closely observing the day-to-day practices of top athletes. Additionally, many of us were involved in the development of Olympiatoppen's training diary, intensity scale, and test protocols – all crucial tools in athlete performance tracking. Moreover, we have published more than 150 articles in the field of endurance sports, demonstrating our in-depth understanding of the subject. We contend that this experience uniquely qualifies us to collect and interpret the data presented here.