When a group of 33 participants hopped on stationary bikes and pedaled through a 4,000-metre course, they were asked at several points to estimate when 30 seconds had elapsed. Surprisingly, they consistently believed less time had passed — their internal clocks ran ahead of the real one by roughly 8-9 %. In other words: while 30 actual seconds ticked by, it felt like only 27.5 seconds had gone.
The experiment included three different conditions: riding alone, riding against a “ghost” competitor, and riding in direct competition with another person. They were asked to rate how hard they felt they were exerting themselves, but were not required to reach any set speed (except in the competitive scenario). The result? The feeling of time slowing showed up in all conditions — the presence of a competitor, or extra effort, did not change how slow time felt.
Because the sample was small and the setting quite specific, the researchers stress that caution is needed in drawing wider conclusions. However, it opens up intriguing questions: How does bodily exertion — the increase in muscles firing, breath rate rising, sweat appearing — affect our internal sense of duration? If athletes want to optimise pacing, understanding how time feels may help just as much as knowing how fast they’re going.
The authors suggest further study is needed to explore how external cues (like lighting or crowd noise), exercise intensity and duration affect our perception of time. In sports where timing and rhythm are critical, such as swimming or cycling, even a slight mis-judgment of how time is passing can influence whether an athlete nails a flip turn or misses the finishing kick.
