Clas "The Baron" Bjorling -- Part One
About My Life Before I Started With Triathlon
This is the first of a series of articles I’m going to write, the articles will be mainly about my life and different things I have learned over the years both in and outside the sport. I will try to come out with a new article every month with different topics.
This is the first of a series of articles I’m going to write, the articles will be mainly about my life and different things I have learned over the years both in and outside the sport. I will try to come out with a new article every month with different topics.
The first article will be about my life before I came into triathlon, just so you get a better idea who I am. I’m just about to be able to come back to some easy training again after have been suffering from overtraining and a Epstein-Barr virus since August 2006, so I though is a good time to look back on my life and share the things I have learned.
So, my name is Clas Björling, I’m born June 13, 1978. I grew up in Mockfjärd; it’s a small village in the middle of Sweden. I still live in this town and call it home even if I end up travelling around the world for 6-7 month of the year, my girlfriend Kristy is American so I end up spending a lot of time in the state with her of course, but she have been in Sweden a few summers to. Kristy is also a professional triathlete.
So, my name is Clas Björling, I’m born June 13, 1978. I grew up in Mockfjärd; it’s a small village in the middle of Sweden. I still live in this town and call it home even if I end up travelling around the world for 6-7 month of the year, my girlfriend Kristy is American so I end up spending a lot of time in the state with her of course, but she have been in Sweden a few summers to. Kristy is also a professional triathlete.
I live in a big house in Mockfjärd that I share with my father and his girlfriend.
My parents got divorce 15 years ago but my mom live just a short walk from where I live so I see her a lot to. I have a 3 year older brother and an 8 year younger sister. My sister lives with my mom and my brother lives in a town 30 K from here and has a 3 year old daughter.
I have a very close relationship to my family so it can be hard sometimes when I’m away for long periods of time, but I often get restless when I’m at home for very long to. A nice thing to be travelling is that I appreciate all the things more that I have at home in Mockfjärd. After a few months on the road is nice to come home to relax and spend time with my family and friends. And I like to have the woods and all the lakes close by to train in, make me feel more alive then to train in some big city and doing laps in some pool that stink chlorine.
That was a little about my family situation. This article was supposed to be about me life before I came into triathlon so I better get started on that subject then. It is just hard to know what to begin with. I don’t remember so much from when I was very young so it will be more an “overlook” how I remember it.
I was lucky enough to grow up without computers or TV games, so I learned early how to play “active” games with my friends and to be outdoor. When I grew up we just had 2 channels on the TV so it wasn’t much to watch on there either.
My mom worked from home until I was 10 so I grow up in a relaxing home where I didn’t need to be driven back and force to some day care and have to play with kids I didn’t like. I feel very lucky to be able to grow up with my parents and not having other people taking care of me all day.
My parents got divorce 15 years ago but my mom live just a short walk from where I live so I see her a lot to. I have a 3 year older brother and an 8 year younger sister. My sister lives with my mom and my brother lives in a town 30 K from here and has a 3 year old daughter.
I have a very close relationship to my family so it can be hard sometimes when I’m away for long periods of time, but I often get restless when I’m at home for very long to. A nice thing to be travelling is that I appreciate all the things more that I have at home in Mockfjärd. After a few months on the road is nice to come home to relax and spend time with my family and friends. And I like to have the woods and all the lakes close by to train in, make me feel more alive then to train in some big city and doing laps in some pool that stink chlorine.
That was a little about my family situation. This article was supposed to be about me life before I came into triathlon so I better get started on that subject then. It is just hard to know what to begin with. I don’t remember so much from when I was very young so it will be more an “overlook” how I remember it.
I was lucky enough to grow up without computers or TV games, so I learned early how to play “active” games with my friends and to be outdoor. When I grew up we just had 2 channels on the TV so it wasn’t much to watch on there either.
My mom worked from home until I was 10 so I grow up in a relaxing home where I didn’t need to be driven back and force to some day care and have to play with kids I didn’t like. I feel very lucky to be able to grow up with my parents and not having other people taking care of me all day.
What I remember I played a lot with my brother and his friends, and then I played a lot of card with my grandfather. My family also spent a lot of time out in the woods at a lake where we had a cabin without any electricity, running water and a “real” bathroom. In the summer time at the lake we went on long walks or spent the day fishing or just relaxing. In the winter we did ice fishing, went on snowmobile rides or climbed to the top of some hill just so we could glide fast back downhill in a big plastic bag or some other slippery material.
I have a lot of good memories from being a kid up at the lake. To have the opportunity to be outside all day in a stress free, relaxing environment is something I still appreciate today. Of course back then I didn’t think about it so much, but today I can see how lucky I have been to be able to grow up this way.
When I was 4 years old my parents also put me on my first dirt bike, don’t think I was doing any 360 back then (not that I’m doing that today either) but I believe a lot of the endurance and strength I have in triathlon today I have got from riding the dirt bike from when I was very young.
Another thing I did as a kid that has helped me to build the right mind and strength for long distance training and racing was to work in the woods. We heat up the house with wood and have always done, so every weekend in the fall I was out working in the woods with my parents. That’s the time when we cut down and bring home the woods so we have enough for another year. Back then my brother and dad was working with the chain saw and my mom and I was the ones that pulled it all together so we easily could pick it up with the tractor. As I grew older I was allowed to do some work with the chain saw as well which was a nice change from been pulling trees together all day.
I have a lot of good memories from being a kid up at the lake. To have the opportunity to be outside all day in a stress free, relaxing environment is something I still appreciate today. Of course back then I didn’t think about it so much, but today I can see how lucky I have been to be able to grow up this way.
When I was 4 years old my parents also put me on my first dirt bike, don’t think I was doing any 360 back then (not that I’m doing that today either) but I believe a lot of the endurance and strength I have in triathlon today I have got from riding the dirt bike from when I was very young.
Another thing I did as a kid that has helped me to build the right mind and strength for long distance training and racing was to work in the woods. We heat up the house with wood and have always done, so every weekend in the fall I was out working in the woods with my parents. That’s the time when we cut down and bring home the woods so we have enough for another year. Back then my brother and dad was working with the chain saw and my mom and I was the ones that pulled it all together so we easily could pick it up with the tractor. As I grew older I was allowed to do some work with the chain saw as well which was a nice change from been pulling trees together all day.
I never saw the work in the woods as hard work. I just loved it out there so much, and still do. That is the best way to get my body and mind going again after an Ironman or some other time of the year when I have been taking a break from regular training.
My nutrition hasn’t always been as good as it is today. When I grow up my dad worked as baker so I grew up eating cinnamon rolls and donuts for breakfast, then my mom liked to cook with a lot of cream and butter. So I’m glad I had an active life as a kid to, otherwise I might have been as unhealthy as most kids are today, this just shows that it is not today’s diet that are the big problem for people, the problem is to much stress with an inactive lifestyle they, both kids and adults.
That is a little about my childhood. Let’s tell you a little about how I came into more organised exercise.
My nutrition hasn’t always been as good as it is today. When I grow up my dad worked as baker so I grew up eating cinnamon rolls and donuts for breakfast, then my mom liked to cook with a lot of cream and butter. So I’m glad I had an active life as a kid to, otherwise I might have been as unhealthy as most kids are today, this just shows that it is not today’s diet that are the big problem for people, the problem is to much stress with an inactive lifestyle they, both kids and adults.
That is a little about my childhood. Let’s tell you a little about how I came into more organised exercise.
It was when I was about 15 years old and had just got a moped. When you turn 15 here in Sweden you are allowed to drive a moped that can run 30 km/h. Of course what I didn’t realize and what many kids/ or parents doesn’t realize is that when you start driving a moped instead of your bike you cut away a lot of daily activity for the teenagers. Of course when you are at that age you don’t see that the riding you do to school or to friends as training, you are just happy that you don’t have to pedal when you have to go somewhere.
Anyway, around this age one of my best friends who had been lifting weights at a local gym for about a year asked me if I wanted to come and train with him. I didn’t know why I should go and spend time lifting weights and train but I gave it a try and I really liked it. Maybe I didn’t get hooked to the training it self right away but it was nice to have something to do and I was pretty natural strong from all the other work I had done in the woods so it was fun. Then they had a sauna there as well where we spent some time after the session to talk about everything.
On the weekends we had a lot of pre parties in the sauna. After a good training session, some beers in the sauna, then we were ready to move on to the big party. I was parting almost every weekend from I was 15 to 18-19. We always had some reason to party, but I’m very happy that it stayed with beer and vodka. I’m proud to say that I have never used illegal/heavier drugs in parting, training or racing which could have been pretty easy to do the way I grew up. Not that I had the age to drink alcohol when I was 15 but that is another story.
Around this time was also the time when my parents got divorce so it was nice to leave home and get all the anger and stress out by lifting the weights. Think it helped me to come through the whole divorce thing easier. So from the first day I walked in to the gym I never really left.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that in the last 3 years in ground school (the first 9 year of school we call ground school) we had a 10 K running race every year. So that was when I was 13, 14 and 15. The first year I hadn’t been running at all before the race and ended up running 44.28 min. The 2: nd year I had been doing a few runs on the local trails and ran 40.30. The 3: rd and last year I had been running around a few times a week for the last month before the race and did 37.21 min.
Another activity I did when I was around 10-12 years old was that a played some soccer. But I have never been very good to handle any equipment when I’m moving so I stopped doing that after a few years.
When I was 16 and moved on to high school (think that is what they call it in USA, the school you go to when you are done with the first 9 years in “ground school”) I started in a new school in a town named Borlänge that is located 30 K from Mockfjärd, I travelled there every day by buss. Here I meet some new friends and one guy in my class was in the Swedish team in canoeing. A big part of his training was done in the gym so we got pretty close and were lifting a lot of weights together. Some days I lifted weights with him at a gym in Borlänge before the school started, then after school I went back to the gym in Mockfjärd to join my other friends in theirs session. So already back then it ended up to be a lot of training, but because I was training in the gym so much without and special diet or enough recovery I never got very big or very strong. But I have to say that I got very fit.
When I was 17 years old I went to see my brother finish a 90 K cross country ski race named “Vasaloppet” here in Sweden. When I saw him at the finish line and saw how tired but happy he was I decided to do that race the following year. Even if I grow up in Sweden I never did much cross country skiing as a kid. So my skiing skills weren’t the best when I signed up for “Vasaloppet”, but I learned pretty quick and got some good hours of ski training done so the race went pretty well.
When I now was done with that race I decided to keep doing some long distance races here in Sweden that together are included in what we call “En Svensk Klassiker” (The Swedish Classic). The Swedish Classic include “Vasaloppet”, “Vättern rundan” which is a 300 K cycling race, “Vansbro simningen” which is a 3 K open water swim race and the 4: Th event is a 30 K cross country ski race called “Lidingöloppet”. If you finish these 4 races in 1 year you have done “The Swedish Classic” and get a diploma. A lot of people use this Classic to get motivation to train and stay fit and healthy all year around.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that in the last 3 years in ground school (the first 9 year of school we call ground school) we had a 10 K running race every year. So that was when I was 13, 14 and 15. The first year I hadn’t been running at all before the race and ended up running 44.28 min. The 2: nd year I had been doing a few runs on the local trails and ran 40.30. The 3: rd and last year I had been running around a few times a week for the last month before the race and did 37.21 min.
Another activity I did when I was around 10-12 years old was that a played some soccer. But I have never been very good to handle any equipment when I’m moving so I stopped doing that after a few years.
When I was 16 and moved on to high school (think that is what they call it in USA, the school you go to when you are done with the first 9 years in “ground school”) I started in a new school in a town named Borlänge that is located 30 K from Mockfjärd, I travelled there every day by buss. Here I meet some new friends and one guy in my class was in the Swedish team in canoeing. A big part of his training was done in the gym so we got pretty close and were lifting a lot of weights together. Some days I lifted weights with him at a gym in Borlänge before the school started, then after school I went back to the gym in Mockfjärd to join my other friends in theirs session. So already back then it ended up to be a lot of training, but because I was training in the gym so much without and special diet or enough recovery I never got very big or very strong. But I have to say that I got very fit.
When I was 17 years old I went to see my brother finish a 90 K cross country ski race named “Vasaloppet” here in Sweden. When I saw him at the finish line and saw how tired but happy he was I decided to do that race the following year. Even if I grow up in Sweden I never did much cross country skiing as a kid. So my skiing skills weren’t the best when I signed up for “Vasaloppet”, but I learned pretty quick and got some good hours of ski training done so the race went pretty well.
When I now was done with that race I decided to keep doing some long distance races here in Sweden that together are included in what we call “En Svensk Klassiker” (The Swedish Classic). The Swedish Classic include “Vasaloppet”, “Vättern rundan” which is a 300 K cycling race, “Vansbro simningen” which is a 3 K open water swim race and the 4: Th event is a 30 K cross country ski race called “Lidingöloppet”. If you finish these 4 races in 1 year you have done “The Swedish Classic” and get a diploma. A lot of people use this Classic to get motivation to train and stay fit and healthy all year around.
So after the 90 K skiing race I bought a road bike and started doing some riding to train for the 300 K bike race which was run in June, 3 month after the ski race. I started to ride the bike to school in Borlänge a few times a week, sometimes I rode there, lifted weights, went to school all day, rode home to Mockfjärd after school, lifted weights again with my friends here, did home work and then straight to bed. So I had some long training days pretty early in life.
When June came and it was time for the bike race I was pretty fit and the bike race went okay; I finished, but had experienced a new level if tiredness, fatigue, which I really liked. A month after the bike race was the swim race. In Sweden we just learn breast stroke as kids so it took me a good 1.5 hour to finish the 3 K, but the goal was just to finish which I also did. Then in October it was time for the 30 K cross country running race, the last event for me to get the Diploma for “En Svensk Klassiker”. The running race went pretty well; think I did 2.02 hours on a pretty tough course and I had made En Svensk Klassiker. What I didn’t know then was that by training for these events I had slowly started to build a interest for endurance training and racing.
This summer I also got in touch with triathlon when I first joined a team in a short triathlon relay as the runner, and a few months later I also did my first triathlon when the Swedish Championship over the sprint distance was organised in a town close by and they had a triathlon for fun race outside the Championship that I could do. I had read an article about Ironman Hawaii in some Swedish magazine a few years earlier and had since that day thought that it would be fun to try triathlon. I didn’t know much about triathlon back then but I did ok in this race. I wasn’t fast during the swim as I swam breast stroke and the transitions was very slow and chaotic , but I moved up through the field during the bike and the run and I finished 3: rd, and I really liked what I just had put myself through.
The year after I made the Swedish Classis, so 1998, I joined the Swedish Army to do 15 month military service. In Sweden all 18-20 year old men have to do 7.5 to 15 month of military service, then after that you are placed in the army reserve until you are 45-50 something.
So I moved to another town named Falun where I did my military service. I really liked the structured and simple life in the military. Kind of fit my personality, everyone knows what needs to be done and it gets done without anyone complaining or need to discuss things over and over again, and you get clothes, food and a bed. I learned a lot of good things in the military that I will have with me for the rest of my life, just simple things as how to work as a group, to take and give order. And of course we had a lot of time to train, which I did. One officer who did some run coaching saw pretty early that I had some talent for running, so he helped me with some training ideas and he brought me to my first real running races. Pretty soon I found out that longer cross country races and ½ marathons suited me best.
The year after I made the Swedish Classis, so 1998, I joined the Swedish Army to do 15 month military service. In Sweden all 18-20 year old men have to do 7.5 to 15 month of military service, then after that you are placed in the army reserve until you are 45-50 something.
So I moved to another town named Falun where I did my military service. I really liked the structured and simple life in the military. Kind of fit my personality, everyone knows what needs to be done and it gets done without anyone complaining or need to discuss things over and over again, and you get clothes, food and a bed. I learned a lot of good things in the military that I will have with me for the rest of my life, just simple things as how to work as a group, to take and give order. And of course we had a lot of time to train, which I did. One officer who did some run coaching saw pretty early that I had some talent for running, so he helped me with some training ideas and he brought me to my first real running races. Pretty soon I found out that longer cross country races and ½ marathons suited me best.
So now I slowly started to spend less time in the gym and more time running and cycling. Even if I was focusing on running it was hard for me to let the bike training go away, I really liked the long hours I could put in on the bike that wasn’t really possible with the running.
Still back in my head I remember the great feeling from when I did the triathlon race the previous year, so I joined a triathlon team in Falun to try to learn how to swim freestyle. This was to be a big challenge for me. All the years in the woods and the gym had really made my upper body tight, and from not being introduced at all to freestyle for 20 years didn’t make things easier and I kind of had a fear for putting my head under water. But my personality also back then was to never give up, so I kept working and working and one day many months later I was able to swim my first 25 m freestyle. I’m sure it didn’t look pretty or that it was a new world record time but it just showed me that everything is possible to achieve if you just want it badly enough.
I think this is a good way to end this first article that was suppose to be a little about how my life was before I started with triathlon. Now you have got an idea how I grew up and how I first came into the sport.
Still back in my head I remember the great feeling from when I did the triathlon race the previous year, so I joined a triathlon team in Falun to try to learn how to swim freestyle. This was to be a big challenge for me. All the years in the woods and the gym had really made my upper body tight, and from not being introduced at all to freestyle for 20 years didn’t make things easier and I kind of had a fear for putting my head under water. But my personality also back then was to never give up, so I kept working and working and one day many months later I was able to swim my first 25 m freestyle. I’m sure it didn’t look pretty or that it was a new world record time but it just showed me that everything is possible to achieve if you just want it badly enough.
I think this is a good way to end this first article that was suppose to be a little about how my life was before I started with triathlon. Now you have got an idea how I grew up and how I first came into the sport.
As you can see I wasn’t a kid that grew up dreaming about gold medals. I think I came into the sport for the right reason, because I like to push my body and mind behind the limits, and I think that is all what Ironman is all about. Of course by doing this for many years and not listening to my body when it have told me to rest I’m now paying the price with over training.
It’s a very fine line from pushing hard and long enough to be the best you can, and be pushing too much. I have now pushed to far but I’m very confident (most days) that if I just stick with this recovery plan that I’m on I will be able to come back to high level of training and racing even stronger and smarter then what I have ever been.
Until next time, train safe!!
//Clas Björling
It’s a very fine line from pushing hard and long enough to be the best you can, and be pushing too much. I have now pushed to far but I’m very confident (most days) that if I just stick with this recovery plan that I’m on I will be able to come back to high level of training and racing even stronger and smarter then what I have ever been.
Until next time, train safe!!
//Clas Björling
www.clasbjorling.com
clasbjorling@hotmail.com
clasbjorling@hotmail.com
posted by GordoWorld Team @ 4:31 PM
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