Why are athletes better under pressure than alone? Every endurance athlete has had this experience. You train consistently and seriously for a competition. You can feel the work paying off and feel in top shape at some point. Even if there are perhaps a few weeks left until your main race, the “time trial” is now on the agenda as a benchmark. Marathon runners might complete a 20 kilometre session at maximum speed, cyclists do a solo time trial or a mountain they climbed already under racing conditions. And swimmers crawl 1000 to 1500 meters with the goal of being faster this time than they were a month ago.