At the moment I'm training a lot for mountain bike races (cross country / XC) and have race season just around the corner. I love racing, everything about it - the day, getting kit ready, chasing people down, having the crowd watching and obviously riding the courses. However I don't really enjoy the training at all. Despite having a really good coach who has worked with me to try many different routines I just find the training very boring. Lots of intervals, road work, turbo training (indoor trainer) over winter and lots of repetitive sessions. This led to minor depression, I think, because I just felt a bit stuck with my life. I started BJJ in 2014/5 and used to climb (rock climbing) but ended up stopping those activities because it was too much on top of the MTB training. However due to the boredom I started BJJ (as well as JKD now too) again last year and I'm really loving it. I feel so happy after martial arts classes and it gives me a good inner glow for the whole week. Due to the MTB training though I can only do one BJJ class and one JKD class per week (both on same night) and my progress is slow. Even then, I'm really happy to be training. My question is this. I know training is hard work and I have no issues with that but it shouldn't be boring. I really want to do more BJJ and JKD classes because those are really helping with my depression and self-esteem more than anything else but I can't do everything and I'm a bit scared of letting go of the MTB training because I've put in a lot of hard work. The thing with XC racing is that you really have to be on the bike 5 days a week to be competitive and I really enjoy being competitive. At the moment I have no aims to compete in BJJ (never say never, of course, just not yet) so should I just suck up the bike training and get on with it? Try to cram in more sessions (I can't really do this) or back off the MTB training and focus more on MA instead of being competitive? At the end of the day I'm 40 next month so I'm under no illusions that I'll ever be an elite rider but I just love the races! I know this is totally personal so I'd just like opinions and your thoughts on how you feel about your training I guess!
Drop the martial arts. It sounds as though you really want to focus on the biking, so do just that. By dropping the martial arts your recovery will be better and therefore your state of mind will hopefully be better. Martial arts will still be there when you want to go back to it.
I think to get better at anything, there is an element of "eating bitter." There will be parts of training that you enjoy less. This will be true no matter which route you choose. If you aren't a professional at either, and have no illusions about being elite, just decide what approach will make you the most happy in your day to day life. Sometimes we can get so caught up in other aspects of training. Sometimes, my fellow students and I, when one is getting all stressed out about training, just remind each other "we do this for fun!" If you train just because you are scared to let something go, that isn't focusing on having fun with your life and training. When you make a decision, be at peace with it. And if you find you are having too many regrets, don't be afraid to change your mind again. It doesn't have to be an irrevocable decision.
It sounds like A) you enjoy competition, B) but find mtb training boring, and a large use of your time C) really enjoy Martial arts D) are struggling fitting everything in So you can either A) reduce the mtb training, and have the time to train Bjj more and maybe compete. B) stop the MA training and add one more night of Mtb training in. It's really up to you, and what you enjoy the most, but you could always focus on Mtb this season, and then train for a BJJ comp in the off season and then make a choice.
Thanks for the replies everyone. It's interesting to hear individual takes on this. I think you hit the nail on the head here and what I'm experiencing is actually me just "being in the thick of it". I'm making good progress on the training and I suppose it just feels "normal" and no longer exciting. I see other people (admittedly on social media, Instagram is terrible for it) looking so psyched and fired up for training and I sometimes wonder why I'm not. Maybe it is just because it's so routine now and maybe those people on social media aren't actually that fired up haha!
