The Morning Swim Show, April 20, 2012: Tyler Clary Discusses Prep for Trials, Desire to Be Race Car Driver

PHOENIX, Arizona, April 20. TYLER Clary is a man of many talents, and he discusses a couple of them on today's edition of The Morning Swim Show.

Besides enduring hard training in Fullerton, Calif., for the upcoming Olympic Trials, Clary has been dabbling in music production and learning about auto racing in his spare time. He talks about the motivations behind those hobbies, and what his mindset is in the days leading up to Trials. He also looks ahead to his post-summer plans, including a return to the University of Michigan to get his degree.

Click here to listen to Tyler Clary's new song, “A Cool Summer Day.”

Be sure to visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

Special Thanks to Finis for sponsoring the Morning Swim Show's interview segments in the Finis Monitor.
Download The FINIS Custom Suit Catalog
Download The FINIS 2012 Product Catalog
Visit Finis to learn more about their innovative products for aquatic athletes.

Morning Swim Show Transcripts
Sponsored by Competitor Swim Products
www.competitorswim.com

(Note: This is an automated service where some typos and grammatical errors may occur.)

Peter Busch: This is the Morning Swim Show for Friday, April 20th, 2012. I am your host Peter Busch. In the FINIS Monitor today, we will talk to Tyler Clary. He is a favorite to make the U.S Olympic team in several events, and Tyler joins us right now in the FINIS Monitor from Newport Beach, California. Tyler, welcome back to the show, how are you doing?

Tyler Clary: I'm great. How are you Peter?

Peter Busch: Good, and you are literally at the beach today, huh?

Tyler Clary: Yeah, no kidding. I am sitting on, well not on the sand but on a towel on the sand as we speak.

Peter Busch: What a rough life you are living out there.

Tyler Clary: I know it is terrible isn't it? You wanna switch?

Peter Busch: Now I know why you didn't go back to Ann Arbor. Well, you know before the show we were listening to your music. That is good stuff.

Tyler Clary: Yeah, you like it?

Peter Busch: Yeah, how long you have been dong that?

Tyler Clary: I have been involved in DJ-ing since my sophomore year in college, and I have just been kind of toying around with it for a long time and only until recently did I get in to actually producing my own music, and that is actually the first song I have ever completed, so I have got a lot of good feedback on it. I am pretty excited for it being my first song.

Peter Busch: Best to describe it, it is like club music, right?

Tyler Clary: Yeah, well that song is more of like a — I would say you would listen to that more of in a kind of a chill lounge or at a beach party or something like that. It is definitely not something you'd hear at like you know some European club or anything like that. But that is something I want to delve into later.

Peter Busch: I was thinking it would be perfect for marching out to the 400 IM in Omaha. What do you think? I know somebody at U.S.A Swimming. We might be able to make that happen.

Tyler Clary: Yeah I mean there is probably a way to make that happen, but I don't know if that would be my first pick of songs to listen too before the 400 IM.

Peter Busch: Well how is training going on?

Tyler Clary: Training is going really well. I actually last week — well since Austin, I mean obviously my shoulder was hurt in December and I hadn't been able to train for awhile, or at least consistently before the Austin Grand Prix and it was really frustrating, but then after the Austin Grand Prix my shoulder got a lot better and I was able to put in a solid 6 or 7 weeks of solid hard training and I was back training at you know the level that I was at and with the intensity that I had liked if not more intensity than I have had in the past, if not ever. So that was really nice to do and I went and had a really good meet in Indy. My goal for the meet was to go in and swim the 400 IM in either 4:14 or faster and I went a 4:13.0, so I was very happy with that. I went a best time in the 400 free. So the cool thing about the 400s is that they are probably the best gauge at how conditioned you are and the 200s though are more of a gauge on how well your rest is coming because you really need to have that easy speed in the 200 and obviously my 200s I didn't have that so as far as training goes it is going really well and I am excited to see how it all comes together once I start getting some rest.

Peter Busch: So heading into this all important Olympic Trials you feel confident that you have got the training you need under your belt?

Tyler Clary: Oh absolutely, I mean I know just from the years that I have had with Jon. I mean I know that we are some of the hardest training athletes there are within the swimming world and just to train for the 400 IM, you have train harder than a lot of other events, so you know I am not really worried about my conditioning at all coming into the trials. It is all going to come down to you know how well I put it together when it counts and that is actually been the cool thing I have noticed in the last couple of weeks. I am at the point where you know I am not really going to get much faster. I am not really going to get in much better shape. Things are going to happen the way they are going to happen and I am really just along for the ride, and the key now is to get my mind out of the way for my body to do what I have been training it to do for years and years now.

Peter Busch: You say getting your mind out of the way. Is that something that you are concerned about?

Tyler Clary: Oh no not at all, that is something I am very good at. I mean a lot of my best races I can only– they almost seem like a dream to me when I try and recall them. I don't remember the pain. I don't remember any of the nervousness beforehand and all I remember is just like things seem to happen in slow motion. I seem to be super clear and present and aware of everything that is around me.

Peter Busch: Did it take you a certain point in your career experience to have that feeling and that mental confidence or has that always been the case for you?

Tyler Clary: It definitely hasn't always been the case for me. That mental state that I have been able to get myself into when I need to is really only something that I had harnessed in 2009. The first time I had ever experienced it was at the Pan American Games I believe was in 2007 when I did really well in my 200 backstroke and I didn't really know what had happened then and I lost sight of that for a couple years, but then it kind of all fell back in place in 2009 in the collegiate season and then it carried over into the long course season at World Championships in Rome and Pan Pacs in Irvine and I had a decent meet and it happened a couple of times in Shanghai, so I am really excited to you know keep my head on straight and get that going again and really kind of open up again.

Peter Busch: Are we unfair when we suggest that Ryan Lochte is the guarantee to win the 400 IM and that it is kind of a race for a second?

Tyler Clary: Absolutely.

Peter Busch: You think you can beat him?

Tyler Clary: I think anyone can beat him. I think he is you know he is a very fast racing, incredibly talented athlete but at the same time he is human and it doesn't matter what anybody has done in the past. I could have been you know the world record holder 3 weeks ago and, you know some 14-year-old kid could come up and beat me at Trials. It really doesn't matter. All that matters is who puts it together on that day when it counts and I think I definitely got the skills set and the mindset to go out there and challenge him if not beat him.

Peter Busch: What are you going to swim at Trials?

Tyler Clary: The definite possibilities, well the definite events that I am going to swim are the 400 IM, the 200 butterfly and the 200 backstroke and we are also looking at the 200 freestyle and possibly the 400 freestyle depending on how the 400 IM goes, but being at the 400 IM falls on the same days as the 400 free it is a very slim chance I will swim the 400 free unless something like crazy happens like I blow out my groin or something weird.

Peter Busch: Well let's not have that happen Tyler.

Tyler Clary: Yeah I would rather not.

Peter Busch: 200 free huh? Thinking about making a run at that relay?

Tyler Clary: Yeah, why not. I mean it is the way–

Peter Busch: It seems like a pretty good chance for a gold medal this summer.

Tyler Clary: Yeah, it always is, that is the cool thing about that relay. It is always a pretty good chance getting a gold medal and the way I look at it is you get in the finals, you got a 75% chance at making it, so why not take those chances?

Peter Busch: What are you going to do after this summer?

Tyler Clary: The plans right now are to move back to Michigan and complete my degree in Computer Science. Obviously continue training there, and I am actually looking at setting a couple of things up to go to a couple of auto racing schools and kind of dabble in that and see what happens. It is a dream of mine to actually be, as corny as it sounds, a race car driver after swimming is over and I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of really cool people who have kind of pointed me in the right direction and have shown me some really interesting opportunities that are out there for people like me who have never gotten into racing when they were young and there are specific events for people in that situation so I am really excited to see what happens with that.

Peter Busch: NASCAR Clary?

Tyler Clary: I am thinking more open-wheeler Indy car. Left turns at 220 miles an hour is pretty cool but you know open wheel right next to people going left and right and all sorts of complex and tricky courses sounds a lot more fun to me.

Peter Busch: All right, are you practicing in the L.A. rush hour?

Tyler Clary: I try not to considering that is hugely illegal and I am not too– I am more worried about the other drivers than my own skills on the freeway.

Peter Busch: Well you are a man of many interests.

Tyler Clary: That is what they say.

Peter Busch: All right, well, show us real quick — a lot of people have never been to Newport Beach, give us a quick look around show us what we are missing.

Tyler Clary: Well it is actually kind of funny so when I walked out here it was absolutely gorgeous and I was looking out towards the horizon and there was some rain layer out there and I was like oh it is just still burning off but it turns out it was making a late charge back in towards the coast so you will have to excuse the poor air quality right now but like I said we are literally sitting on the beach.

Peter Busch: You are not kidding.

Tyler Clary: No I wasn't.

Peter Busch: And you are with your girlfriend?

Tyler Clary: Yes sir, this is–

Peter Busch: Do you want to introduce her to viewers?

Tyler Clary: This is Caroline Kosciusko (sic).

Caroline: Hi.

Peter Busch: Hi Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Tyler Clary: She looks like an alien right now with the glasses on.

Peter Busch: Well, nice to meet you. Tyler thanks a lot for coming on this show. It is going to be a lot of fun to watch you this summer. Good luck buddy.

Tyler Clary: Thanks a lot.

Peter Busch: All right that is Tyler Clary joining us literally from the beach at Newport Beach California, and that is it for today's show. I am Peter Busch reminding you to keep your head down at the finish.

Subscribe to this show FREE via iTunes!

To purchase this or previous episodes of The Morning Swim Show, to send comments or show suggestions, click here to send an email.

To purchase copies of our Ready Room interviews, click here.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use