Sprint Faster With This Trick From All-American Masters Swimmer Ryan Kloppe, EP 319

Cold Open False Start Lesson

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Went out there, did the meet, dequeued in my hundred free with a false start. I was like, oh, this is horrible. But I was like, it it spurred me on. I was like, I wanted to do better. And then, you know, I just dove in like head first, and I was like, I kind of go after things. In my opinion, I'm really not a swimmer. I'm a good athlete. So it just happened to devote myself to whatever it is.

Welcome And Meetside Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, where we bring you interviews and topics to help you live well and swim well, conversations especially meaningful for master swimmers and anyone striving to perform better in the water or in life. We're here to champion you. And now your host, Kelly Palace.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

We are doing an on-deck interview, and it's an exciting day at the Bumpy Jones Meet in Sarasota long course. Because not only are we going to have an interview with Ryan Kloppy, who is fantastic. We have so many incredible topics you're going to want to listen to. I'm letting my husband, Mark Palace, co-host with me because we're going to talk about one of Ryan's special activities that I don't know the jargon for, but Mark does have the good questions. Anyway, and just because it's fun. So welcome to Champions Mojo, William Cloppy, but you go by Ryan. Tell us your age, your team, and where you live right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So I'm 45. Uh I live in Orlando, Florida. I'm swimming uh just outside of Orlando in Ovito uh with the Blue Dolphins. And Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

And Mark, welcome to Champions Mojo as a co-host. What would would you think a great first question about Ryan's swimming would be?

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Well, since his last name is Cloppy, which rhymes with choppy, I'm thinking, do you prefer to swim in choppy open water or clean glassy water?

Open Water Fear And Mind Games

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I mean, it's kind of a silly question, but it's just kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah. So I I always love to do an open water swim, but I have this crazy fear when I can't see the bottom. So funny funny story, I was doing an open water swim, and part of the swim was through a channel, and our our minds mess with our heads sometime. And my dad was in the kayak next to me through this channel. And I had to ask him, I was like, Dad, all I can smell is bacon. And I was I thought there were sharks down there, and I thought for sure I was the bacon. It was the weirdest thing, just mind playing tricks. But so yeah, I like that black line on the bottom. I don't I want to be in a pool. What channel was that, by the way? Uh it was I think it was Porta Soto. So

Proud Moments And IM Success

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Alright.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

So first, before we get into your really cool hobbies, which kind of probably all play into you being super fit, and what is the thing that you've done in your swimming that you're most proud of as far as accomplishments, like real swimming accomplishments or times or an event?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Wow. Uh that's a big one. Um, but I my favorite events to I am, and I've I've gotten all American and world top tens in that. So probably revolving around that.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

So wow, that does not surprise me that you're an I amer because um the of all the different it's a it's a medley of strokes, of course, like the medley of events that you have

Wakeboarding Basics And Cable Parks

SPEAKER_03 3:24

in your life. So let's go back to choppy because we were told to ask you about your wakeboarding. Uh so tell us about wakeboarding.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So yeah, so yeah, with wakeboarding, uh glass is the best. You want you want that perfect water. So yeah, I um I loved uh wakeboarding.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

I um I only Can you explain what it is for some of the competition? Is it like where do you do it? Is it behind a boat?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Like what what's so there there's two ways you can do wakeboarding um predominantly uh behind a boat or on a cable. Um I was a cable rat. So I would go to a a park where there's a cable system that runs around the lake, and you're towed by a rope that's dangling from the cable. And you're you they tow you into obstacles and you just huck your body into the air or whatever you want to do, and whoop you land, and it's it's just a blast. So you're sliding around, and uh yeah, during competitions, I always like that I'd I had that swimming background because you can get out and go again if there's still time left in your run. And I can swim to the side pretty quick.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So yeah, flips and rails and all that, it's it's it's a blast.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

So like it would be like a ramp in the water, and then you would just fly off of it and do that's right. So it's it's looks a little bit like uh a snowboard, but on water.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

You got it. That's it exactly. Boots and all.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Yeah. And what was the age that you did that and where like how do you get into that?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I I got pulled out there with some college buddies and we started doing it. I excelled and then I kind of left them in the dust. But it it's a little bit of an expensive sport. You a lot more gear than a swimsuit and goggles.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Yeah, yeah, we always say gear queer. It's a like Yeah, it's it's it's a marine gear core term, but um, yeah, the fewer it doesn't seem like a lot for swimming, except Mark's. You've never seen Mark's equipment back. He's got like every piece of swimming equipment there is.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

But I'm gonna have to compare bags. It's oh yeah. Um I love the gear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Okay, wait.

The PHLex Heart Rate Tracker

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Okay, yeah, let's let's let's talk about swim gear because I think that's really fun. Like, tell us what is what is in your swim gear bag.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

I have one piece of equipment here, and and it's my favorite piece of equipment. It's called the Flex. And it's it runs off a polar, uh temporal uh heart rate monitor, and it's got a gyrometer in it. This has six different gyrometers. It gets my splits, it gets my intervals, it gets my my my paces at different heart rates. It is hands down one of the best things. I wear a Garmin, right? Um and it's good, but the flex just a whole nother level. What's the company call it? It's called Flex with a P P H L E X.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Yeah. It goes under your calf, or how does it connect to you?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

So it connects right on your own. No, no, Ryan, you're getting Mark, get another. So if you've heard of Tritonware, it's kind of like Triton, except you don't have the box on the back. It's just the heart rates part right here. It is, it's it's approved by FEMA or World Aquatics. So it gives no feedback during the swim. It's all afterwards. It does fleet tracking. So you can have your full swim team on here on a big iPad. You know if Bobby's going hard or easy. You can tell if your your swim team needs to work on conditioning or you know, if they're if they're getting ready for a meet, it gets it's workout, it's predictive.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Like how does it stay on your temp your temple?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Uh so it it it links on to your goggle strap.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Oh, your goggle strap. And it doesn't come off at all or wiggle when you can push off the whole straw.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

It's there. That's amazing. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

How big is it?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

It's uh it's about the size of three quarters stacked together.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Three quarters stacked together. Does it does it feel weird on your temple? Like does it press on a vein and it gives you a stroke?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

So they they make two different models to of uh har attachment, and one of them does. One of them hurts. Okay. And it doesn't work very well over the cap, but under the cap where most guys wear their goggles under the cap, most girls over the cap. So for girls, there is a little bit of a some improvement there. But anyways, very cool.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Do you lose it when you race or do you just wear it when you train? Because I've been getting into this place where I like to see my metrics like during a race. That's why I'm wearing my garment, even though it's not the most like hydrodynamic piece of kit. No, it is not. But but it's still fun to see like, oh my god, I got my heart rate. It said it got up to 200 yesterday, which is pushing it. That's like a new record. I think it's probably an error in reading it, but getting it up super high on like a sprint or you know, maybe a mid-middistance is pretty impressive,

Race Heart Rate And Warm-Up Science

SPEAKER_02 8:04

you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah. So I I did wear it um for a few races, and uh, I'm not wearing it anymore during races. Why? Because I found out after a few races, my heart rate doesn't get up to it, doesn't get up during a race. Even even in a 200, I might get up to 160, which is nowhere near what it's getting up to during a practice, which is really interesting. I was like, I want to see how I I put it on for a race. I was like, I want to see how high my heart rate gets because it's gonna be astronomical. And like for 100, I get up to 120. It's like that's barely going. So I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong, like prepping, but I think that means you can go a heck of a lot faster on a race.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

I agree. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Recently, I was looking at some sports physiology studies regarding preparation for like a 50 or 100 in long course meters, for instance, or yards.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah, this is a great stat.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

And basically the science was showing that one should get one's heart rate up to like for like a sprint like that, like a 50 or 100, like at least to like 120. Oh wow, 125 before you hit the block. Before you hit the blocks, like do some jumping, move, do some arm swings.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

That's why they're like Caleb's jumping. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Right, right. So that's I'm trying to like kind of incorporate that like, oh, it's only at 90. I better do some more jumping or whatever beforehand. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

I don't know, trying that for the hundred fly in a little while. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

That's what they say. And I did that recently, I did that recently for a hundred free, and I was my best one in a

Swim Bag Favorites Paddles And Fins

SPEAKER_03 9:31

long time. Um, so all right, let's go back to our swim bags because I think that's really fun. Um, what else besides the flex, which is really cool, and now I have a feeling my husband's gonna be buying that. I'm not I'm not, I don't, I don't like to know my data much like that. I mean, sometimes I do, but uh, okay, what else?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

My second favorite uh toy in the bag is my my snorkel. I love my snorkel. Um I love doing skulling during warm-up, so that's that's a piece that usually comes out. Um I'm I'm a paddles guy. So I love my paddles. I do use a pole buoy, which on my team, not a lot of people use pole buoys.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Um wait, what kind of paddles? Because there's so many out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

I so I use stroke maker, the the standard old red ones, only linking on the on my middle finger, that's it, no wrist strap.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

That's exactly me. I'm I'm red stroke maker.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

True old school.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

But stroke makers are awesome. Yeah, it's like they're big and only the middle finger. Yeah, only the thing. Yeah, because that keeps your finish. Because you don't want to slide in the water. You don't want to slide in the water. Yeah, that's really good. And what else? What kind of fins?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Uh so fins, I use the the short, the new short power ones. I don't know what they're called, but yeah, everybody's every you know you know when you see them. So finis ones? The new finished slip fins. The breaststroke ones with the cop things? No.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

These other ones are like brand new. They just like slip onto your shack, onto your foot, like a parasol. They literally came out this week. They're called slip fins. Yeah. I might test them one tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Yeah, they're really cool. They they go, they don't go behind your ankle for the big breast room? No, they're for freestyle and for everything. Not breaststroke. They don't everything but breasts, but they're very natural. They make your foot feel like just a little bit bigger, but not like you know, big fins make even those short power fins. These are really cool. They're called slip fins by Fennis. Yeah. So um, okay, so I think I have similar my bag is the Stroke Maker paddles, but I do alternate the sizes. Like I have three sizes of Stroke Maker, so I don't overdo my shoulders. And if I'm doing like a real speed set, where I love um one of my favorite sets is descend by equipment. So you start with no equipment, super tight interval on like four one hundreds, then the next set you do, you add um paddles only, and then you add fins only, and then you do paddles and fins. So you keep them all like say 2100s on 115, but the you you're when you're getting tired, you're adding equipment. So if you're really trying to swim fast with paddles and fins, I use the smaller paddles, but if I'm just cranking out long stuff, it's the big paddles. All right. Um, your your bag? Do we have enough time? I don't know that we do. So you have everything that we have, plus you have he has breaststroke fins, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

What actual toys do you have in your gear bag?

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Oh, he he has them all.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

I I have one thing from Fitness, it actually clicks when you rotate your hips. You put it around your brace. It's really cool. I love that one. And then the classic stuff, snorkel. I have like three or four different pairs of actual paddles. One's called the freestyler.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

The pointed freestyler.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

It's like a triangle. You know, and that exactly. So really make sure your your fingertips enter the water first.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

And then um you have the tempo trainer. Tempo trainer, and the the and you have the breaststroke breaststroke fins.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

The breaststroke fins. I mean, I pretty much got everything that that finished makes.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

I like the finished stuff. Other things as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Um, so we love our equipment. So we I guess we're a little bit hypocritical to call us a um wake border gear queer, right? Okay.

MMA Years Injury And Returning To Swimming

SPEAKER_03 13:03

So, Ryan, um you do so many things. So now we have to talk about your MMA career. And then um, stay on board. MMA, why don't you mix martial arts and honey? I'm gonna let you take out there.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So as a Marine Corps veteran, uh combat sports are near and dear to me, of course, because back in the Marine Corps we studied uh the Marine Corps martial arts program up at Quantico, way up there from here. We're over down in Sarasota, Florida today, doing this decad deck interview. But um you stationed up at Quantico up there, you know, and uh it was basically whatever you can use to kill the enemy, you know, with any any kind of art or whatever. So basically very lethal, pretty hardcore gnarly stuff. You know, I grew up as a kid doing kenpo and uh little taekwondo and this and that and the other, and of course some wrestling with the with the bros, you know, in high school and stuff, rolling on the mats and all that, you know, choking them out. And the water polo was basically like you know, fighting but in the water. Exactly. Playing elbows to the nose and stuff, you know. But um, so to find out that you are have a mixed martial art MMA background. So now mixed martial arts uh as a young kid, like where did you grow up and where did you start learning how to do some martial art work?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

So when I moved to Florida and um my parents were uh they moved here a little bit before me, and they said uh if I came that back here to Florida that they would uh they would give me some wheels and they put me in school because I was I was trying to do community college in Texas. Uh so it got down here and I I missed some cuts in a swim years in the past at this point. I would not touch the pool. And uh started going to the gym, got a workout buddy. He was like, Well, you should go do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with me. I was like, okay, tried that out, and then he was like, You should stay after for the MMA class. And I was like, I don't know about that. That looks pretty hard. I don't know. Like, well, you lift some weights. So, anyways, I I stayed after. I fell in love with it. Ten years later, I was still doing it, and um, it was fun. We weren't we weren't trying to kill the other guy, it was no snatch the jewels or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

But it was more like uh let's let's knock each other around and go get a beer. Right, right. So uh yeah, but then I noticed like those same guys, they they started getting uh they were a little bit dumb after after a few rounds to the head, and I was like, I don't I don't think that's in my future. So I uh kind of focused on school a little bit more. And uh after an injury uh which took me out of wakeboarding, I broke my ankle really bad.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Um an injury from MMA.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

It was it was an injury unrelated, but um I was wakeboarding a lot at the time, and I was like, I want to get I I had a mud run coming up actually, and I was like, I I gotta get my cardio up. I can still do this run, I'll be a month out from the break. Maybe I can run this thing. I was like, I'm gonna swim in the pool because I know I can swim. I did it before, but it's been 12 years since I'd swum, but wow. So I got in the pool and I was like with a team, and then uh I started like kind of liking it. I was kind of good at it, and somebody talked me into going to a meet, and uh that was a St. Pete, I think it might have been uh Bob Beach. Oh yeah. Went out there, did the meet, de cued in my 100 free with a false start. I was like, oh, this is horrible. But I was like, it spurred me on. I was like, I wanted to do better, and then you know, I just dove in like headfirst, and I was like, I kind of go after things. In my opinion, I'm really not a swimmer, I'm a good athlete. Yeah, exactly. Um so it just happened to devote myself to whatever it is, even if it's something bad for me or good for me, like I go in headfirst after it. So, you know, I kind of chase things with everything I got. Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Well, it's great that you at 45 are really embracing swimming versus like MMA and stuff because I've had I've guessed some some buddies like in their late 40s, 50s that are doing MMA still or rolling jujitsu or whatever, and you know, some some injuries occurring in this, that, and the other shoulder, elbow, you know, or like you know, concussion or you know, whatever, you know, choked out one too many times.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

I mean, you know, it's just like so that a deficit to the brain with bonds. It might not be good.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

I mean, we we do some underwaters, I guess. Yeah, you can see some stars doing underwaters too for sure, you know. But uh but definitely not getting like you know, generally hit in the head, hopefully, you know. Yeah, like doing backstroke without backstroke flex. That's about it.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Probably not the best at our age anymore.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Exactly. But you're also a total boarder, like I am, so we have that in common. I mean, I grew up out, of course, San Diego surfing, snowboarding, Tony Hawk, bumping around on a half pipe, exactly. Yeah, and also like in in um emptied out pools, you know, keyhole and stuff like that. Delmar skate park snowboarding is so yeah, it's awesome. We have that. And now we're now just chilling swimming. And but you're still skateboarding.

Skateboarding Skills And Snowboard Trips

SPEAKER_02 17:47

So tell us a little bit about your skating prowess, uh, doing some kickflips, all these.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah, yeah. I uh I love to go to a skate park every now and then. Um, my first job uh was at 16, started at a skate park, worked there until I was about 20. So I I know how to build the ramps. One of the best things, I in my opinion, one of the best things I could have done at that age, I learned how to work with wood and tools and build real things and structures. Like so now when I'm at at the house, if something breaks, new power tools. Yes, exactly. Men meh.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

The right tool for the right job, and you're good to go. Yeah, it's never gonna never gotta pay somebody to do it again. Yeah, exactly. That's so cool, very nice. So skateboarding gave you that. That's awesome. Um, any snowboarding, surfing, any other thing? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Once a year I do a snowboard trip. Beautiful. Um, I when I was back in the day, I did skiing, and once I tried a snowboard, same thing, it's it's all done. Snowboard is the only way. Where do you normally go? Uh, my favorite is Breckenridge. Sweet. I haven't been there yet, but it sounds amazing. I don't know what the the mountain one is, the far left one where all the blacks are. Wow, you're going black.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, I love that I love that. And how about the family?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Uh don't bring them.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Is it a boys' trip? It's a boys' trip.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, yeah,

Meeting His Wife At The Pool

SPEAKER_01 19:02

yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Hey, speaking of family, you have a commonality with Mark and I, which is rare that you get to swim with your wife. So your wife is Kelly Cloppy, who is outstanding. Is she 45 like you, or is she a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

I got I got a young one. She's so she's uh nine, ten years younger than me. Oh she was born in 90, I'm born in 80. So um yeah, uh we met at the pool. Uh, me and my buddy were uh doing a set of broken 500. She showed up and she's like, Hey, is master's practice today? I was like, no, she's can I swim with y'all? Yeah, hop on in. And a year later, to the day we got married.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

No way.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

That's awesome. What a beautiful we got engaged in the pool underwater with a uh I I got a plastic thing, Sharpie underwater, will you marry me? Got it on video with a GoPro. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

That is awesome. Yeah. So um, do you train together all the time?

SPEAKER_01 20:00

And how is it with you know where's so we've we've got a five-year-old and a seven-year-old. So training together is very difficult. Uh when we're at the club where we have kid care, uh, yeah, we do that. Um, and yeah, it's fun. We we we do we do it probably once a week. We get to train together. Um, but during the week is much more difficult.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

So you train you train separately, but um that is so cool. So today's Father's Day and she let you come to the meeting.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

So that was part of the reason for the the moving the 200, because right now we've got the our next event is two free and then 100 fly. Well, the 800 I took my 200 split because I want to get out of here. I'm gonna go back home and uh they're taking me out for a crab. And I'm making her drive because I'm gonna have some beers.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

Well that is so cool. So what what a career you've already had at just 45, like just swimmer, wakeboarder, snowboarder, MMA, inline skater, like inline, right? Yeah, and and that's a whole different sport as well. Um anything with that.

CPA Life And Work Hard Play Hard

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Um, so what you what you didn't grab is the thing that doesn't fit with any of this, actually.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

That's what we were told to grab.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

What doesn't fit your job, your day job. So I actually do have a day job, yeah. Yes, what is the day job? I'm a I'm a CPA. Uh no. No, no, no way. I I crunch numbers, count beans, do analytics. Um I'm I'm in charge of uh reporting for a company where like in Lake Nona called Tavistock.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Tavistock. What do you guys do?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Yeah, we're we're building a like a master community. That's right. Yeah, uh so we're neighbors with uh Orlando International Airport. We've got uh just thousands of acres over there. And um we're we're developing a 12-mile stretch um of highway. Wow that's gonna go and extend the the beach line. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, out by Sunbridge. Um we've just built uh in 2025, we've or it's just about to open, but the largest target um that was gonna be built for the year. So that was kind of cool. I mean they they built it, but it's our kind of project together, right? How far are we um it's in like Nona West. Yeah, yeah, it's right there. It's right in there, um Lake Nona West. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Wow. So that um do you think there's anything to kind of your adventurous spirit as an athlete that balances the CPA? Is is the CPA.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

It falls right in line with working hard. Yeah, yeah, work hard, play hard. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Wow, this is awesome. All right, you gotta get ready for your 100 fly. Is there anything that I have not asked you or that Mark hasn't asked you um that you would want to share with our listeners?

Faith Sundays And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Uh yeah, there's so there's something that usually happens, and usually why I'm not at meets on Sundays, is because I'm a wholehearted believer in Christ. Yeah. Um, you know, and I and I all the praise and glory and honor that comes from anything I do, I give to him.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Ryan, thank you so much for spending this time with us today and get your heart rate up for that hundred fly. And uh good luck. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Thank you very much, Kelly.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Thank you, guys. See ya.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Would you consider leaving us a five star review on Apple? That's like getting a best time for us. Kelly and our team would be so grateful. See you next week for another boost of mojo.