Clas Björling
Quit Later
Clas and I didn’t set out to explore the limits of human endurance. We simply wanted to become decent triathletes.
Today, I’ll introduce Clas and touch on important lessons from our journey.
We can do far more than we realize.
As we approach our limits, our margin for error shrinks.
When it comes to health, heed warning signs.
Strengths are also weaknesses.
My first memory of Clas was before I met him. My housemate, John Newsom, staggered in from a ride with Jonas and Clas…
Jonas in fine but he brought this guy with him, Clas. He’s a total ax on the bike.
Like most fit amateurs, Clas was always game for a bit of impromptu racing. Clas and John had been dueling all morning on the Port Hills of Christchurch.
My nickname for Clas is “The Baron.” It’s short for The Baron von Hammer. Like Molina, Clas was good at kicking my ass.
Clas has a unique combination of strength and speed. During his military service, he won both the max pushups competition, and the fastest 5km run time.
Natural Strength
Natural Speed
A Love of Training
Exceptional Mental Toughness
Clas would become great.
Ironman World Champion in the 18-24 age group
Ironman New Zealand Run Course Record Holder
Swedish Ironman Record Holder
Ironman Kalmar Champion & Course Record Holder
Along the way, he would lose his health, deal with tragedy and rebuild his life.
He’s got a lot to teach us.
The Ride Across the USA
The idea was to remove as many distractions as possible and focus on our training.
The ultimate point-to-point ride:
San Diego to Hilton Head
Swim & Run along the way
Rolling across America, living out of a trailer.
180,000 meters swimming
6,300 km biking
630 km running
The trip took us nine weeks.
This included a “week off” where we flew to California and raced the World’s Toughest Triathlon, 70.3 distance.
The hardships of the journey removed any emotional attachment we had to fatigue. For a period after the trip, we were unstoppable.
In the years that followed, we experienced outstanding racing performances and overtraining syndrome.
Peaks of performance and valleys of illness.
The Day Clas Saved My Life
To set the scene
We were four weeks into Trans USA trip.
We’d been stacking 35-hour weeks through wind, heat and sand.
Our route had zigzagged across the desert Southwest.
We’d swim 5-6000 yards at each pool and run most days.
The day before, we’d left El Paso, Texas. It had been a peppy 200 km up to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
A spring storm had arrived. Our goal was the town of Socorro, a 4-5 hour ride depending on the wind.
From my diary, Trans USA, Day 23
We had a late start this morning. With the thermometer at 4C and rain blowing against the trailer walls, I wasn’t exactly itching to get out there.
Here’s what I put on...
Neoprene balaclava
Polypro T Shirt
Long Sleeved Bike Shirt
Synthetic Arm Warmers
Cycling Gloves
Gore-Tex Windstopper over-gloves
Waterproof Wind Jacket
Winter thick Bib Tights
Synthetic Socks
Gore-Tex Shoe Covers
Helmet Cover
That’s a ten-out-of-ten set up. I had a large breakfast after an evening spent reloading from our ride (three dinners).
This trip has been good at teaching me about my limits. I was about to encounter a few more.
We’d been rolling for about 40K... We were getting drilled.
Rained changed to wet snow and the wind was such that the only way to climb effectively was on the aerobars. I’d gotten sick of the interstate and noticed a side road.
Half a K from the exit ramp, I discovered a slow leak. Thankfully there was an overpass just past the exit and we stopped to change the tire. We stopped for five minutes, out of the wind, but soaked and losing a lot of body heat in the process.
Rolling back out, Baron suggested that we place our emergency plastic bags over our hands. When a Swede gives me cold weather advice, I take it.
We rolled another 10K, descended into a canyon and rode out the other side. That 10K must have taken close to half an hour. I could feel ice on my bars and the snow was starting to stick. I rolled up to the Baron...
G – Hey buddy, if I get another flat then I am going to be in serious trouble
B – I’m OK it’s just my hands.
G – First the hands, then the feet, then the jaw. I’ve seen this in the mountains. If anything goes wrong, then I am in trouble.We rode more. At the time, we though that it was 80K to the next town.
G – We should turn around and get back to town. It’s downhill and downwind. I don’t like this weather. Can you make it another four hours in this?
B – My hands are cold, but I am OK. I should have put the plastic bags on earlier.
G – Maybe I’ll call Wy (our support).
B – I won’t get in the van.
G – I am going to be in trouble if I get another flat.
B – Sit on my wheel. I’ll pull.We rode more and crested the hill out of the Canyon. Baron was putting in a heroic effort, but we were sitting on 18km/h. Stretched out in front of us was endless snow, wind, rain and rollers. Not good. Not good at all.
I was on the razor’s edge. If everything went 100% right, then I might get out of this situation. If anything went wrong, I was fifteen minutes away from hypothermia and a full body shut down.
I’d had five flats in three weeks.
10K ago, I’d punctured without any visible cause.
I didn’t have faith in my equipment.
We had yet to see a car on this road.
There was zero support for 80K.
My partner appeared willing to die rather than backtrack or call for help.
What to do?
I saw a culvert, sheltered from the wind. I stopped, unclipped, lay my bike against the hill and started to climb in.
I am not sure what I was thinking but I do remember my hands being terribly cold. I wanted to get out of the wind, warm my hands and call support to get me the hell out of this mess.
B – Gordo, get on your bike!
G – I want to warm my hands.
B – Gordo, get on your bike! We go to the house back in the Canyon.Hmmm. That might make more sense than dying in a culvert. I agreed, got on my bike and we turned around. Going downwind I felt warm and took off my plastic bags. I remember reading about hypothermic people getting warm. I took the warmth as a bad sign. I was laughing and goofy – the back of my brain took that as a VERY bad sign.
We got to the house, and it looked scary. There was no guard dog, so we entered a sheltered porch that felt warm. I think the warmth I felt was the absence of heat being sucked from my body due to the wind chill. We knocked on the door while taking some of our wet stuff off.
After a few minutes the owner, a Rancher, rolled up and let us in. He treated us like pals that had dropped by for a visit. Threw a few logs on a burning wood stove and offered us some coffee. I rang support and noticed that my speech was slurring.
G – Do you have a pen?
W – Hold on a sec. You’ll never guess what the pool’s like.I am thinking to myself that I really should try to be polite here. It’s not her fault that I nearly died in a New Mexican storm.
W – Not real nice out there. Where are you?
G – We need you to meet us (gave directions)
W – OK, it’s 45 miles. Sit tight.
G – No worries, a rancher saved us!The rancher was a character. Beside the stove was a copy of Shotgun News and he had a menacing knife beside his table lamp. I was glad that the Baron was wearing his Marine jersey for the second day in a row.
B – So is there a town up ahead?
R – Yep, about 15 miles up the road.
B – So we could warm-up there?
R – Yep, in the restaurant.
B – Anything after that?
R – After that is the bird sanctuary. It flattens out a bit there. There’s a canyon between here and the restaurant. Not much until Socorro, though. That’s about 55 miles. If you do head up to the sanctuary, then I wonder what birds you’ll see.Again, I found myself thinking... who cares about the birds. If they have any brains, then they’ll be bunkered down out of this storm. Nice warm stove...
R – Snowing pretty good out there.
G – Yeah, we were getting drilled.
R – You know, the vultures came back last week. Maybe you’d see them in the sanctuary.
G – We saw them down in Douglas. They were following us on a run.
R – More coffee?We talked. He was a great host. His place was a hoot, looked like grandma’s attic. Old books, mail everywhere and a few keepsakes.
Wy arrived and I gave my heartfelt thanks to the man that bailed me out of one of the closer scrapes of my 35 years.
Back in the trailer, I lit every element on the stove. Broke out my sleeping bag and hopped in. Baron was in better shape and made us lunch. I drifted in and out of sleep.
Around three the snow turned back to rain and eased.
B – I think that we should ride to the restaurant now.
G – I’m still cold.
B – You aren’t cold. You are warm in there.I thought to myself, “How the **** does he know if I am warm or cold?” I considered requesting that he feel my stone-cold feet but drifted back to sleep.
B – I would have been fine if my hands were warm. I think that we should ride to the restaurant.
G – I’ll make a decision at four.
B – You are weak. The only reason not to ride is death. We aren’t going to die. We should ride.At that point, I moaned, “Leave me alone, I am sick of being the weak link in the chain. Talk to me at four.”
I woke up at 4 to the sensation of the trailer moving. It might have been the wind, or it might have been the Baron. I was warm and felt good.
The sun had come out, the storm had blown over and it was a balmy 6C in the shade. I didn’t have plans for the rest of the afternoon, so I announced that I was “willing to try.” Music to the Baron’s ears and he chimed in with the observation we could always quit later.
On the way out of the trailer, I smiled at Wy and told her not to worry, it would all make sense when she read my report.
It was cold, the wind was still rocking but we could ride.
My music batteries died shortly after that roll out, it was me, the wind and the birds. Didn’t see any vultures but I did see pink cactus flowers.
I don’t remember much except the sun was out, I wasn’t freezing, and I had completely resigned myself to my fate. My fate being to ride until it was dark with a crazy Swedish guy.
All was well with the world. I was relaxed and rolling along. I wasn’t making great time and we were on the edge of having enough daylight to make it to Socorro.
Baron rolled up and I sensed he wanted to go faster. I green lighted that and decided to hop on. 18 miles to go.
An uphill grade, into the wind
I was OK at 31km/h.
32 km/h hurt a bit, but the draft was worth it.
At 33 km/h I moved into serious discomfort.
At 34 km/h I smiled at the ridiculous nature of my life.
When he touched 35 km/h I was hit by the simultaneous urge to chunder and fill my shorts. Deciding that I’d come too far for that. I rolled out the back.
27/28 km/h was much more my speed.
Often, it’s best to let the strongest guy be the strongest guy. It makes everyone feel better. Or perhaps, it’s best to let everyone have a chance at being strong. Scott told me that once on a group ride.
Ten miles out of town, Baron waited, and we regrouped. I was going to lead the final ten miles at my pace. This is the fastest way to get tired people from A to B and works well with me. A tired athlete never fares well playing catch-up.
I checked the time and realized we were going to make it.
I was shelled but pleased with the way things turned out.
We’re going to be exploring topics related to this story.
But Did You Die? Five years before The Hangover was released, my training partner used death as his filter for what’s reasonable. We’d joke about it for years to come.
Quit Later. There was no quit in Clas. He went deeper than anyone I know.
The Capacity for Bad Judgement. That day is far from the dumbest thing I’ve done. Knowing I can make large errors, I use heuristics.
Most Conservative Rules. It’s not majority rule. Commit to follow the advice of the most conservative person in the group.
Skew Errors Left. Related to Joe Friel’s advice, If In Doubt Then Leave It Out.
Choose Mentors with Different Blind Spots. The better we get, the more we need different outlooks.
None of the heuristics will feel comfortable when you implement them. However, they are essential:
to extend your athletic career
generate better long term performance
reduce your risk of ruin
When life is going well, you will want to jettison the guard rails.
That’s a mistake.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Clas’ strengths brought him many victories and honors. He earned his success.
The exact same strengths resulted in lost years as his health failed. His return to health was a five-year journey. We will be digging deeply into his, and my, experiences with overtraining.
What’s the takeaway here?
You can do far more than you realize.
A downward health spiral has clear warning signs. There is a pattern I have seen repeated many times.
A few simple precautions will greatly reduce your risk of ruin.
Life best performance requires life best recovery.
More Clas
Back To Table of Contents
Thanks Sean.
Talking to Clas about it last week was interesting. The work was there, for sure. We agreed that we would have benefitted from structure on the recovery side.
When I write about NVDP (5:2) and say the difference is the recovery, not the loading... it's from experience.
Recovery/absorption is the tougher part of the performance equation.
G
I remember following your online updates of the gRAAM during the summer of 2004. The daily changing dynamics of the gRAAM made it even more exciting than even the Epic Camp journal entries over those years. (Lots of good Baron stories in those Epic Camp journals too.) He did a good job of helping you build a massive base before getting the Dave Scott finishing touches that summer.
In hindsight, the two of you learned a lot about where your limits are and developed an appreciation for adequate recovery. Along that journey of finding your limits, you inspired a lot of aspiring endurance enthusiasts and endurance junkies.