Not Enough

This is a true story of two mountain bike racers who were not very successful last season. Neither of them trained as much as they wanted to or should have and, as a result, both had somewhat disappointing results. They both wanted to be fast, but neither of them did what they needed to do to make this happen. I'm curious as to which one of their outcomes was worse and what will happen to each of them when the next season rolls around.

Racer #1 started out motivated. This racer trained a lot in the beginning and had some relative initial success. As the season wore on, Racer #1 still wanted to race, but didn't train as much. By the end of the season, this racer wasn't training at all, but still chose to keep racing. It bothered Racer #1 to be slow and to have unsuccessful races, but it didn't bother Racer #1 enough to quit racing (or to motivate Racer #1 to continue/step up training).

Racer #2 also started out motivated. This racer trained some in the beginning, though not as much as Racer #1. Racer #2 had the advantage, however, of more natural strength and ability than Racer #1. As the season wore on, Racer #2 became more unhappy with racing. Racer #2 was also bothered by having unsuccessful races, but not enough to train. Racer #2 quit racing before the season was over.

So, which is worse, being bothered by lack of success, but not enough to train more, or being bothered, but not enough to stop racing? Will Racer #2, who has more natural ability, ever be motivated enough to train to make the most of that natural ability or are Racer #2's racing days over? Will Racer #1, who stuck with racing all season despite lack of training, ever hate being slow enough to train consistently? Stay tuned for answers.