From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhard goinghard goinga) DIFFICULTdifficult to do and needing a lot of effort A strong wind made the race very hard going. b) BORINGboring, or difficult to deal with, talk to etc I find some of his friends pretty hard going. → hard
Examples from the Corpus
hard going• Anyone who tried to set up in between us would find it hard going.• But getting to be one of these fashionable high-flying image makers with a top salary is hard going.• Robbie's sandals were low-heeled, but even so she found the pace hard going.• Much of it was hard going, especially in the early parts.• I don't mind it, but it's pretty hard going to sleep with this banging going on. 