Photographs Stocksy
It’s a late summer day, but rather than hitting the park for a run, I’m pounding a treadmill in an office with a fan blowing hot air at me. I’m testing Zwift’s running platform (zwift.com), taking on a 5K around a fantasy island called Watopia. It starts in a cityscape, which I convince myself is Tokyo or Singapore, before taking me alongside a beach, over the sea on a wooden footbridge, then through lush tropical landscapes back to the finish.
The scene transports me back to a beachside run I did on holiday in California. ‘There’s a phenomenon called biophilia,’ explains sports psychologist Simon Marshall. ‘Mood, satisfaction and perceived exertion are all better when you’re in an aesthetically pleasing environment, and you can get this biophilic response in a virtual environment, too.’