Where the average Age Group athlete really takes it easy during the ‘off-season’, elite athletes often have slightly different habits: cyclist Mathieu van der Poel, for example, still puts in quite a few miles on the bike – which makes sense – but recently ran a lightning-fast half marathon just for fun. He did so together with his training buddy Freddy Ovett.
In Spain, Van der Poel noted a time of 1:22 over 21.2 kilomete, good for an average pace of 3:52 minutes per kilometer. Now those aren’t necessarily times that many world-class triathletes will be impressed with, but when you consider that Van der Poel completed the run just for fun, with no specific training and also running around with an average heart rate of just 114, that certainly makes his achievement impressive.
Van der Poel’s comment afterwards was brief but powerful: “I might regret this tomorrow.”Van der Poel previously hinted at wanting to do a Long Distance Triathlon one day.
