“Problem solvers, learners, adapters and responders and then, of course, the will,” says Dr. Lawrence van Lingen when quizzed on the common attributes and personality traits found in elite athletes.
And he should know.
Married to former Olympic middle-distance athlete Gwen van Lingen (nee Griffiths), Van Lingen is now based in Southern California focusing on sport, rehabilitation, movement and posture through chiropractic. But that only scratches the surface.
“I dabble in coaching,” he says of his sideline career where he advises several elite athletes across a broad spectrum of sports. Downhill mountain biker Greg Minnaar and ultra-runner Ryan Sandes are amongst his eclectic clientele, the experiences and insights of which he is now sharing through the Innerunner.
His informative YouTube channel contains regular videos on mobility and postural correction specific to athletes, the philosophy of which is summarized in the following Q&A session.
Nature Gym: You have recently launched an initiative called Innerunner. What is Innerunner and discuss your motivations in setting up this initiative. Is your vocation to educate and coach?
LVL: Innerunner is born out of the frustration of realizing so many running injuries - if not all - are posture or movement based. When I say movement, I really mean that we are restricted or prevented from moving in an efficient or pain-free manner. Most people run the way their body permits them to run; one has to change the body in order to change the way one runs.
There is an Innerunner inside all of us that can run way more efficiently and faster and longer if we just let it.
NG: Your YouTube channel emphasizes mobility as key to athletic longevity, yet many athletes confuse mobility with flexibility. What is the difference between these two modalities and what are your thoughts on the traditional static stretching mantra?
LVL: Muscles are reactive: they try to manage and create order and stability out of chaos.
Most people think of flexibility as muscle length and believe it to be resolved by stretching. However, limitations to mobility are a result of several mitigating factors: joint restriction, tissues stuck together, pain, fear, amnesia of a movement or not having learned to move well at all.
Even neural or brain issues can be added to this list, where faulty movement patterns through "over-coaching" or overthinking could be deemed a "brain issue".
NG: In triathlon, many elite athletes coming from a swimming background develop recurring stress fractures as a result of run training and racing. Why is this and how would you advise an elite swimmer in making the transition to running at a high level?
LVL: For swimmers starting to run, most of the tissue adaptation of bones, joints and ligaments, as well as the skill of actual running-specific movement, requires a two year adaptation window. This phase probably continues over a period of decades, so swimmers have a lot of catching up (sic) to do in terms of actual tissue adaptation.
There are no short cuts; acquiring the skills and adapting to the sheer stress of running takes time.
Another key point is the difference in approach and basic mindset. A swimmer will almost certainly be taxed to their limit almost every single day in training. Swim coaches seem to have a knack of knowing what your limits are and testing them in a different way on a daily basis.
Running coaches will often test these limits two or maybe three times a week and the good ones will hold their athletes back on the "in-between" or recovery days in order to excel in the key workouts. A good run coach will stop or modify a speed session when form deteriorates.
Applying a swimming mindset to the sport of running is simply a recipe for disaster.
NG: There seems to be a lot of conflicting views on strength training for runners. Given that everybody is unique, how can functional strength training be applied to the individual athlete, be it in the weight room or running in the hills?
LVL: There is a very poor correlation between strength training and an actual increase in sports performance.
Most benefits seem to come from strength "training" within the specific sport. For example hill running will translate into running strength far more readily than weight training. That said, there are definite benefits in weight training for athletes, particularly in females where I feel the type of strength gained by lifting weights translates into a competitive advantage. The conundrum is just how, what and when.
The mantra of "train your weakness and simply race to your strengths" seems far more applicable, though.
Strength training can fatigue athletes and even alter movement patterns so it can become a double edge sword. The gains from strength training in the weight room seem to translate to performance when the athlete gets very strong, but this takes time, patience, expertise and skill, and often erodes from more beneficial training time.
For many athletes, any varied movement platform (gym, yoga, Pilates) makes them more competent at moving and translates into better running. This is almost certainly not true for elites unless they have a big movement deficiency that happens to be corrected with their chosen activity.
With this in mind, one should therefore not confuse doing varied exercises in the gym and core training with functional strength.
NG: Having already mentioned complementary activities such as yoga, strength and conditioning, Pilates and so on, what are your thoughts on running more to run faster? Is actual running frequency less appreciated than accumulated mileage?
LVL: I like to break down running into a few components.
The skill of running is a big factor. Frankly speaking, most running is an eyesore. A skill is best practiced frequently, as in two to three times daily.
Restricted movement or poor posture is another huge factor in running form, so yes: any complementary activity that allows runners to achieve better running form is going to be a great help.
The cardiovascular system is probably optimally stimulated at around 10-14 hours per week for world-class performances. So world class runners are probably going to have to run upwards of 120km/week. That being said, a triathlete with good central fitness and cardiovascular stimulation, with better skill, posture and movement, tends to see their running mileage come down and performance level go up; they almost feel that the running leg becomes less stressful.
Skill is infinitely rewarded in the sport of running, so highly efficient runners can get away with far less mileage. Inefficient or less skillful runners must do more, but the more inefficient or less skillful, the more likely that running volume is could be sidelined or curtailed through injury.
A catch 22, really, although the solution seems obvious.
*Note: Header image of Cape Town Innerunner workshop courtesy of Dr. Lawrence van Lingen.