the battles go by faster in the mangas/comics, so try to read those if you like for things to speed up. yes, the anime tends to drag things on longer than i would've liked.
kes: those tournaments are called "the strongest under the heavens tournaments" or "ten'akai budokai" (sp?). they take place every 4 four years and then it got changed to every three. not sure if they changed that time space in dbz, but that was the gap for dragonball.