Workouts That Will Make You Cry: Swim Edition

We’ve ventured deep into the world of swimming, cycling, and running to find the hardest workouts from each discipline. Workouts that have brought some of the best swimmers, cyclists, and runners to tears. Training sessions so demanding they’ve left permanent emotional scars—but also badges of honor. As triathletes, we get the pleasure of playing/suffering in three sports so we dare you to take on these sessions from single-sport athletes and coaches.

Get ready to cry, complain, and be humbled.

The Swim That Made a 5 X Olympian Cry

“Oh, do you want to hear about the set that made me cry?” Kasia Wasick laughs. The multiple Polish Olympian swimmer, world championship medallist, national record holder and European champion, is one of the fastest freestyle sprinters in the history of swimming. She can swim 50 m in 23.1—yeah, that fast. Specializing in the 50 m freestyle, her training is nothing short of heroic and brutal, and there is one set that she has only ever done—and will only ever do—once.

But, if there is one thing triathletes love, it’s a sufferfest. While triathletes are not training for the Olympic finals like Wasick, we all pride ourselves on our ability to train, how far we can push, and, hey, whatever gets you gains (and maybe some kudos on Strava), right? It’s a set that looks approachable on paper, but will cut you off at the knees, lungs and arms.

Wasick currently trains in Dallas but, when she did this “killer set,” she was swimming with notable coach Ben Loorz at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“I knew we were going to do a hard set, 20 x 25 meters sprint—which, when you hear 20 x 25, it’s not a big deal—but try to do it on 30 seconds, no breathing, and climb up every time to dive,” she remembers.

Yes, that’s right: 20 x 25 m max effort sprint from a dive, no breathing, on 30 seconds. 

“It’s a really hard set. I think it’s really advanced,” she says. That’s a bit of an understatement, as Wausick remembers the “tears in her goggles” from the overwhelming fatigue and oxygen debt.

“After six, I wanted to puke. I looked up and I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I just can’t do it,’” she says, the memory of fatigue influencing her voice. “On the eighth one, I climbed up and grabbed my knees. I looked up and I was melting down. But I saw the person in front of me and they were in the same pain. I could relate to them and that gave me energy. Everyone was in pain, and you don’t want to be the one weak person in the group.”

Wasick and her teammates did all twenty repetitions. “We all finished because we did it together. Everyone was feeling the energy of each other. The tears in my goggles disappeared.” 

Still, she laughs, “The dives were not pretty at the end.”

The main set did have a purpose. “You have to get into that fatigue. You have to feel that fatigue to execute a race really well and that is what helps you,” Wasick says. 

She isn’t just referring to the physical stress. Enduring and overcoming the mental test made an equal impression on her.

“Somehow I kept going and it was the worst set in my life but the most rewarding afterward. It felt so good to be able to do the set,” she pauses before continuing. “It’s really hard,” she adds one more time. 

Triathlon might be a completely different sport but the mental and physical stress is something they both have in common. If you’ve ever gone full gas at the start of a triathlon, you will have struggled to breathe properly in the chop and chaos of the elbows-out pack. Even beyond that, you might have to deal with tough water conditions like waves and current, bunch dynamics and race paces that put you under stress. Having the ability to mentally endure and push yourself physically in tough conditions is exactly what this kind of set will help prepare you for. It’s less about the times and more about performing under stress and not giving up.

Such an influential and memorable swim set begged one question: Would she ever do it again?

“No! I think I would miss that practice!”

So, you think you can hack an Olympic-level sprint swim set as a mere triathlete? Give it a try. (And let us know if you survive.)

The Workout: Sprint Until You Cry

Suggested Warm Up: 1500 m

600 (100 free, 25 progressive, 25 other stroke)

200 kick (15m hard, 35 easy)

4 x 50 with fins (25 under water, 25 recovery)

4 x 100 (15m break out speed, 35 moderate, 10-15m under water, 35 recovery)

100 easy

Wasick’s Main Set 500 m

20 x 25 m max effort sprint, from a dive (off the blocks), no breathing, on 30” 

Suggested Warm Down 800m

300 recovery backstroke kick/ backstroke swim

500 (200 free, 50 back) 

Got something harder? Let us know.

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