title: Concurrent Development of Endurance Capacity and Explosiveness: Training Characteristics of World-Class Nordic-Combined Athletes.
abstract: Performing at an elite level in Nordic combined (NC) requires both the explosiveness required for ski jumping performance and the endurance capacity required for cross-country skiing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the characteristics of world-class NC athletes' training and determine how endurance and non-endurance (ie, strength, power, and ski jumping) training is periodized.
  
  
  METHODS
  Annual training characteristics and the periodization of endurance and non-endurance training were determined by analyzing the training diaries of 6 world-class NC athletes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 846 ± 72 annual training hours, 540 ± 37 h were endurance training, with 88.6% being low-, 5.9% moderate-, and 5.5% high-intensity training. While training frequency remained relatively constant, the total training volume was reduced from the general preparatory to the competition phase, primarily due to less low- and moderate-intensity training (P < .05). A total of 236 ± 55 h/y were spent as non-endurance training, including 211 ± 44 h of power and ski-jump-specific training (908 ± 165 ski jumps and ski-jump imitations). The proportion of non-endurance training increased significantly toward the competition phase (P < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  World-class NC athletes reduce the volume of low- and moderate-intensity endurance training toward the competition phase, followed by an increase in the relative contribution of power and ski-jump training. These data provide novel insight on how successful athletes execute their training and may facilitate more-precise coaching of future athletes in this sport. In addition, this information is of high relevance for the training organization of other sports that require optimization of 2 fundamentally different physical capacities.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Olympic Federation, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Espen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tønnessen
authors.forename: Vegard
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rasdal
authors.forename: Ida S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Svendsen
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Haugen
authors.forename: Erlend
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hem
authors.forename: Øyvind
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Sandbakk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology; D009664:Norway; D064797:Physical Conditioning, Human / Q000379:methods*; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D012865:Skiing / Q000502:physiology*