diff --git a/pageserver/src/walingest.rs b/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
index 49a7eb2a0e..93985ed944 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
@@ -2107,21 +2107,6 @@ mod tests {
         let startpoint = Lsn::from_hex("14AEC08").unwrap();
         let endpoint = Lsn::from_hex("1FFFF98").unwrap();
 
-        // Bootstrap a real timeline. We can't use create_test_timeline because
-        // it doesn't create a real checkpoint, and Walingest::new tries to parse
-        // the garbage data.
-        //
-        // TODO use the initdb.tar.zst file stored with the test data to avoid
-        //      problems with inconsistent initdb results after pg minor version bumps.
-        let (tenant, ctx) = TenantHarness::create("test_ingest_real_wal")
-            .unwrap()
-            .load()
-            .await;
-        let tline = tenant
-            .bootstrap_timeline(TIMELINE_ID, pg_version, &ctx)
-            .await
-            .unwrap();
-
         // We fully read and decompress this into memory before decoding
         // to get a more accurate perf profile of the decoder.
         let bytes = {
@@ -2135,38 +2120,57 @@ mod tests {
             buffer
         };
 
-        // Start profiling
-        let profiler_guard = crate::profiling::init_profiler();
-        let prof_guard = crate::profiling::profpoint_start();
-        let started_at = std::time::Instant::now();
+        let n_iterations = 1000;
+        let profiler = crate::profiling::init_profiler();
 
-        // Initialize walingest
-        let xlogoff: usize = startpoint.segment_offset(WAL_SEGMENT_SIZE);
-        let mut decoder = WalStreamDecoder::new(startpoint, pg_version);
-        let mut walingest = WalIngest::new(tline.as_ref(), startpoint, &ctx)
-            .await
-            .unwrap();
-        let mut modification = tline.begin_modification(endpoint);
-        let mut decoded = DecodedWALRecord::default();
-        println!("decoding {} bytes", bytes.len() - xlogoff);
+        for iteration in 0..n_iterations {
+            // Bootstrap a real timeline. We can't use create_test_timeline because
+            // it doesn't create a real checkpoint, and Walingest::new tries to parse
+            // the garbage data.
+            //
+            // TODO use the initdb.tar.zst file stored with the test data to avoid
+            //      problems with inconsistent initdb results after pg minor version bumps.
+            let (tenant, ctx) = TenantHarness::create("test_ingest_real_wal")
+                .unwrap()
+                .load()
+                .await;
+            let tline = tenant
+                .bootstrap_timeline(TIMELINE_ID, pg_version, &ctx)
+                .await
+                .unwrap();
 
-        // Decode and ingest wal. We process the wal in chunks because
-        // that's what happens when we get bytes from safekeepers.
-        for chunk in bytes[xlogoff..].chunks(50) {
-            decoder.feed_bytes(chunk);
-            while let Some((lsn, recdata)) = decoder.poll_decode().unwrap() {
-                walingest
-                    .ingest_record(recdata, lsn, &mut modification, &mut decoded, &ctx)
-                    .await
-                    .unwrap();
+            // Initialize walingest
+            let xlogoff: usize = startpoint.segment_offset(WAL_SEGMENT_SIZE);
+            let mut decoder = WalStreamDecoder::new(startpoint, pg_version);
+            let mut walingest = WalIngest::new(tline.as_ref(), startpoint, &ctx)
+                .await
+                .unwrap();
+            let mut modification = tline.begin_modification(endpoint);
+            let mut decoded = DecodedWALRecord::default();
+            println!("decoding {} bytes", bytes.len() - xlogoff);
+
+            // Start profiling
+            let prof_guard = crate::profiling::profpoint_start();
+            let started_at = std::time::Instant::now();
+
+            // Decode and ingest wal. We process the wal in chunks because
+            // that's what happens when we get bytes from safekeepers.
+            for chunk in bytes[xlogoff..].chunks(50) {
+                decoder.feed_bytes(chunk);
+                while let Some((lsn, recdata)) = decoder.poll_decode().unwrap() {
+                    walingest
+                        .ingest_record(recdata, lsn, &mut modification, &mut decoded, &ctx)
+                        .await
+                        .unwrap();
+                }
             }
+
+            drop(prof_guard);
+
+            let duration = started_at.elapsed();
+            println!("done iteration {} in {:?}", iteration, duration);
         }
 
-        drop(prof_guard);
-
-        let duration = started_at.elapsed();
-        println!("done in {:?}", duration);
-
-        crate::profiling::exit_profiler(&profiler_guard);
+        crate::profiling::exit_profiler(&profiler);
     }
 }