by Olivier Poirier-Leroy. You can join his weekly motivational newsletter for swimmers by clicking here.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom is one of the top swimmers on the planet.
She discovered swimming later than most, not getting into the water until the age of 10. Her late entry to the sport didn’t slow her down, as within a few years she was winning titles at European championships, and shortly after, setting world records.
Sjostrom’s first time breaking the world record in the 100m butterfly—arguably her best event—came in 2009 as a 15-year old. Since then, she has broken it four more times, including at the Rio Olympics.
Sjostrom’s speed and dominance is matched by her versatility. Along with her 100m butterfly world records, she’s also broken marks in the 50m butterfly, and the 50, 100 and 200m freestyles.
In Rio, Sjostrom joined a small club of swimmers—including Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi and Michael Klim—to win medals in the 100m (bronze), 200m free (silver) and the 100m butterfly (gold).
The workouts and sets below were done in preparation for the Rio Games.
Here are highlights from the workouts and sets, which were published by her coaches at NEC Stockholm, Carl Jenner and Andrei Vorontsov, Ph.D.
Sarah Sjostrom’s Training in the Lead-Up to the Rio Olympics
The swim practices below cover a broad spectrum. There is some aerobic maintenance work, a 200 race pace set, and one of Sjostrom’s workouts from when she was just a few days out from her dazzling performance in Rio.
Let’s go:
APRIL 27, 2016
Focus of the practice: 200 race pace, lactate
WARM-UP/PRE-SET
- 200 drill freestyle + 4×50 IM + 100 backstroke + 2×50 Fly/BR (:10 rest between each)
- 200 free @2:45 + 3×100 with paddles @1:30
- 5×100 kick @1:50
- 5×50 drill (:10 rest) + 3×50 as 15m fast, 35 cruise @:50
- 3×50 drill (:10 rest) + 2×50 as 20m fast, 30 cruise @:50
- 1×50 drill (:10 rest) + 1×50 as 25m fast, 25 cruise @:50
MAIN SET
- 100 pace @1:30 (SS: 1:04.65)
- 100 free @1:40
- 2×100 pace @1:30 (SS: 1:04.42, 1:04.45)
- 100 free @1:40
- 100 pace (SS: 1:03.41)
300 recovery + Lactate measuring. Sjostrom had a lactate level of 9.3 and 8.1
- 50 pace @:50 (SS: 28.51)
- 50 free @:60
- 2×50 pace @:50 (SS: 28.91, 29.72)
- 50 free @:60
- 50 pace (SS: 28.09)
Lactate measuring. Sjostrom produced a lactate level of 8.4
** Sjostrom (SS) swam butterfly for the pace portions of the set.
RECOVERY
10×50 swim
10×50 kick with fins
200 drill
Total volume: 5,200m
APRIL 28, 2016
Focus of the practice: Race pace tolerance. Find your speed, and hold on!
WARM-UP/PRE-SET
200 IM drill + 10×50 free with paddles @:45
200 IM @3:00 + 5×100 IM @1:30
12×50 kick @:60
8×50 drill @:10 rest
5x [25 kick underwater fast from a dive, 25 cruise]
200 drill
MAIN SET
5 rounds through…
- 2×25 fast @:35
- 50 fast @:60 (SS: 28.98, 28.88, 29.04, 28.89, 29.23)
- 2×25 fast @:35
- 50 fast (SS: 29.79, 28.11, 28.78, 28.72, 27.77)
- 150 recovery
RECOVERY
3×200 pull @2:45
8×50 kick with fins @:50
200 drill
** Interestingly, Sjostrom’s second slowest and fastest 50s were on the final round (bold). Goes to show that even the fastest swimmers on the planet aren’t immune from a touch of Sammy Save-Up in training.
MAY 3, 2016
Focus of the practice: Aerobic maintenance
WARM-UP/PRE-SET
- 200 backstroke + 12×50 free with paddles @:45 + 3×100 kick @2:00
- 200 IM + 4×100 IM + 6×50 kick @:60
- 3×50 drill + 50 at target race pace + 2 seconds
- 3×50 drill + 50 at target race + 1 second
- 3×50 drill + 50 go!
- 200 drill
MAIN SET
3 rounds…
- 3×100 freestyle descend 1-3 @1:30
Sjostrom’s target times were 1:06, 1:04, and 1:02, which she held almost perfectly.
- 200 with paddles
Sjostrom’s target time was 2:05. She did: 2:04.80, 2:05.11, and 2:05.44
- 200 recovery
RECOVERY
8×50 kick with fins @:50
3×100 as 35m fast underwater kick with fins, 65m swim easy
300 swim recovery
Total volume of the workout: 6,000m
AUGUST 1, 2016
Focus of the practice: Race day simulation. This session was completed four days before the start of the Olympics Games.
WARM-UP/PRE-SET
2x [200 swim @3:00 + 4×50 swim other than free @:50]
200 kick @3:45 + 3×100 kick @1:50
4×100 as 50 breaststroke, 50 free @1:40
6×50 drill @:10 rest
MAIN SET
3×100 swim from a dive
- #1: 15m fast, 85m cruise
- #2: 20m fast, 80m cruise
- #3: 25m fast, 75m cruise
Broken 100m butterfly – 2×50 @:50
SS: 25.97, 27.31 (53.28)
Dive start
RECOVERY
800m swim
** Sjostrom’s gold medal and WR setting time in Rio would be 55.48.
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier is a former national level swimmer who is obsessed with helping swimmers develop a high-performance mindset in the pool. He’s the publisher of YourSwimBook, a ten-month log book for competitive swimmers.
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Me thinks she can put up a competitive 200 fly lcm (or could have)….
2×100@1:30 going 1:04s is pretty nasty. If I recall correctly James Guy said in either a SS or Brett Hawke podcast that he went 59s for a similar set. Huge stretch, but if guy goes a 1:55 whos to say she couldn’t go a 2:05?
It occurred to me that, though Sjostrom is undoubtedly one of the most gifted swimmers in history, she may end her career with only one Olympic gold medal……
If the sport of swimming is going to grow, we have to start treating Worlds almost as big as we treat the Olympics.
Woman who is World-record holder – has swum faster than anyone before her – works hard and swims really fast in practice.
Here’s how she does it: she practices faster than anyone else.
Are these LCM or SCM? I assumed LCM until I saw the set with 25s fast in it. I realize you can swim those from the middle, but it’s not ideal.
28 flat from a push, FLY???
She also does 50’s on 25 low from push when swimming freestyle. That’s insanely fast!
5 years from learning to stay afloat to the world record in one of the toughest to master stroke ?!
If it is so then it should be the world record by itself.
Would be interesting and relevant to know whether she uses her beta agoniste inhaler during practice, or just during meets, and what the current state of her asthma is. Pretty impressed at meets that she can no-breathe a 50 Fly LCM with asthma, but then again just about every Scandinavian Olympic athlete claims to have asthma.
Yes, it is kind of ridiculous that, as reported by Swedish TV (STV), nearly half of all Olympic medals won by Swedish athletes since 1992 have been won by athletes with “asthma” when only ten percent of general population there has asthma. You can look it up.
Most swimmers and skiers in Scandinavia develops asthma through the sport because of bad training facilities
Asthma doesn’t make it hard to hold your breath.
She is tough! She swam my ass off one season. I remember 3x[4×150 @ 2:30 holding 1:38 plus 2×50 fast + 200 ez]