Frederic Funk working hard on the smart trainer (Foto: Simon Gehr)
Training indoor is essential for most triathletes and cyclists around the world. More and more athletes appreciate the efficiency of using smart trainers and being able to hold specific watts and complete training plans without facing traffic lights, cars, turns and other dangerous encounters. Not to mention the opportunity to escape the bad weather. We asked German professional triathlete Frederic Funk about his routines, favorite sessions and gear essentials.
Frederic Funk is one of the hottest prospects in the world of triathlon. He is a specialist in half distance races (1.9km swim - 90km bike - 21.1km run) and has a win under his belt already. Being a Level 31 Zwifter and a beast on the bike, he is an expert worth listening to.
Setup
He prefers having a fixed setup that makes it easy and fast to start his training. Being sponsored by Wahoo, he is using the smart trainer, desk, kickr and headwind to get the full experience of indoor cycling. On his laptop he is running Zwift to track his workouts and make the training hours a bit more enjoyable. He also got his phone, some bottles of water or carbs or some gels in reach.
He is using headphones for some entertainment. During easy rides he is listening to podcasts such as „Gemischtes Hack“, Germany’s most successful podcast show. During intervals, races and hard sessions he prefers Electro and American Hip Hop.
You can get lots of cool insights about Fred's training on his social media channels (Foto: Simon Gehr)
His favorite training
„Fred“ is training under the wings of coach Dan Lorang, who is very successful in triathlon and professional bike racing. He is taking care of the long-term development of the 23-year old.
Although not being the biggest fan of riding indoor Frederic Funk enjoys the efficiency of doing it. His favorite sessions are the ones that include short but hard intervals so that time is flying a bit more. One of his typical VO2max session includes three sets of ten reps with 40 seconds big watts and 20 seconds recovery. (3x 10x 40/20).
Sessions like these made him a Level 31 Zwifter spending more than 8 days in total on the platform. Fred is especially proud of almost 500 burned pizza slices he is telling us with a smile.
Equipment
As it is normally pretty warm and humid inside, he is using a towel and ventilator to stay cool and relatively dry - although we all know that sweat is real during indoor workouts. He prefers our TRIATHLON socks over RUNNING socks because of the super thin and breathable construction. For his head he is opting for a headband or a cap to catch some sweat and add some extra style.
Insights
As some additional motivation he rode up Alpe du Zwift regularly to get the Zwift Tron Bike that you unlock when completing 50.000 meters of climbing. During this journey he also unlocked the Masochist Achievement, riding up that mountain 25 times. During the first months of Covid-19 lockdown he also took part in some virtual races to spice up his training and suffer alongside other elite professionals. All his run and bike workouts can be seen and analyzed on his public Strava profile.
As much as we like to see him racing in the virtual world, we are looking forward to see him race in the 2021 season on real roads. We are 100% sure that we will celebrate some great results together in the future. Make sure to follow him on Instagram or on Strava where he is recording all his training sessions, giving you a lot of insights.