What's my deal?

I think you have to enjoy what you're doing in order to stay motivated.  Do you like to swim/bike/run or do you look at them more like chores that you have to get done?  If you don't enjoy it... that's OK! Just find something that you really like to do and stick with it if you're trying to stay healthy  

If you're thinking tris may be your thing, and you just need some extra motivation to stick with the training, maybe try an indoor tri with shorter distances and a pool swim.  The experience of completing a tri might be all you need to stay motivated to train!

I suspect the major problem for you here in terms of motivation is lack of a target race. This is NOT to be underestimated if you wish to keep improving throughout a season. I consider myself particularly motivated, moreso than most people, and I find it near-impossible to push my limits in training for more than a month without a target to shoot for. I actually think the natural progression of training without a goal is to reach a certain point and then naturally back off right when you are about to make great gains - because your body rebels at precisely that moment.

If you want to keep your "off-season" as a true off-season, then be happy with your fitness maintenance and small declines. However, I consider it critical to have a big race target of some sort if you truly wish to improve beyond your current limits.

 For me, training for marathons (farther than I thought I could ever run), took my fitness to new heights over the winter season.

Your deal?  Most likely, you're just human....

Sounds like (to me) you have to make the transition from good idea and motivation, to habit and life style change.

Good ideas fade and motivation is fleeting.  But a habit, is just that, habitual...

I don't know when it happened for me, maybe a year into my training, but workouts were not something I needed to be motivated for anymore.  They were not necessarily fun, but not unpleasant either.  It is to the point that I train at lunch and after work.  That's it.  Just part of my day, and part of my life - like sleeping, eating, and going to the bathroom.  I just do it without regretting it or looking forward to it. 

Not to say that's ALL the time.  Some days, I just don't want to do it, no matter what.  Other days, I'm jumping at the seams to get out there.

You have to push through the point you need motivation to keep you going.  You need to "just do it" like the old commercial says.  Get to the point that it's automatic.  Easier said than done, for sure.

I wish there was a pill or potion, but alas, there is not.

X2...  it has all been about having a target race for me.  The NYC Oly is my big one for next year and that keeps me going even when I don't feel like training...  also stops me from eating the entire tray of brownies my wife just baked  

Andrew1801 - 2008-10-29 4:14 PM also stops me from eating the entire tray of brownies my wife just baked   

Still looking for a solution to that.  Ice cream for me.  Why, o why, does she keep buying it?