Its different for everybody. Set yourslf goals and targets, a desire to be the best, music whatever works for you. But I think motivation is black and white. It is there or it isnt and there is no inbetween. Maybe you guys think differently, but thats the way i tend to see it...

Usually don't have much of a problem with motivation but I think it's because I give myself time off during the year. I'm in a two week down phase where I'm doing what I want and having fun...no schedule and no plan. I know I won't lose much fitness over two weeks and I'll be ready to race and train in early February...I do this several times a year...it keeps things fresh.

IF you're not overtrained, suffering from an injury, or clinically depressed, then motivation is merely psychological and we can help you.
It's sometimes like playing mind games with yourself, but the deliberate use of self-motivators, phrases like,
"If it's to be, it's up to me!" when uttered aloud while thinking of specific objectives really works.

Even while lying in bed half-awake you can imagine the goal, say, imagine yourself running across a particular finish line, hands aloft with a big smile and say aloud to yourself,
"When the going gets tough, the tough get their asses out of bed! Do it now!"
then fling back the covers and immediately get into action.

The important thing is to MOVE immediately you say, Do it now!
By adhering to this practice you will develop the HABIT of getting off to your training.

The deliberate use of self-motivators, catchy sayings designed to stimulate you into action, has been employed by sales organizations for decades. It really works.

For more on the use of self-motivators, see The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, The Success System that Never Fails by W. Clement Stone, and Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.

Keep your mind on the things you want, and off the things that you don't want!
Do it Now!

PoC

For me, the best motivation is commiting to a race. Recently, I was having a motivation issue, so I signed up for my first marathon.

It also helps me if I have a new 'toy' to paly with, a new pair of shoes, when I got my new HRM, a new piece of clothing, but the motivation from that doesn't last as long as when I have a race x- number of weeks away.

Another helpful lesson learned from someone very wise:
NEVER make a decision about getting out of bed to train WHILE IN BED. These decisions have to be made only when one is vertical!:D

Lots of things motivate me and then I lose motivation. Regsitering for an event is great because you don't want to show up and do poorly or get injured trying hard when you haven't trained.

Success is also a great motivator. Sometimes I just have to drag myself out of bed for a while and then I see an improvement and then I love training.

And then there's this:

http://21stcenturymom.blogspot.com/2006/11/age-is-just-state-of-mind.html

which gives (in the last paragraph) a lot of reasons that motivate me.

Goals have been instrumental in helping me stay focused. That and the elimination of distraction. I've set my life up so that things interfere with training, instead of training interfering with other things.

But some other interesting things that I've found help motivate me beyond what others have said above are:

Cemetaries
Hospitals
Fast Food lines

Run through a cemetary to mix up your routine sometime. They're quiet, well kept, relatively uncrowded and the ground is always super soft (easy on the shins). Every tomb and headstone reminds me that my days on earth are numbered; that it's best to stay active as much as I can, because there's plenty of time to sleep AFTER I've lived a rewarding life filled with personal accomplishment.

Hospitals--well hospitals (and sometimes pharmacies) remind me of how little excuses I have to not do something. To see people young and old with casts on or being carted around in wheelchairs or on gurneys makes me appreciate how healthy I really am. The images I have stored up in and around emergency rooms (some of those images are of myself all banged up) are all I need to push me through the 'suffering' during the last miles of a long ride and remind me of how minor my problems really are.

Fast Food lines! This is a guilty pleasure. People who are fit don't really motivate me too much. But man....when I'm out on a run in the city and I see a bunch of fat slobs sitting in their cars waiting to order a McSuperSized meal....well, call me a sick bastard, but it really makes me feel good about myself, my eating habits and my commitment to doing things that are worthwhile, regardless of how difficult they might be.

Thanks for all of your input, i think im starting to realize all of the passion behind every one of you its pretty amazing, ironman here i come, every step that i take will be in my best effort to achive the goal of completing an ironman, something some people would never even think about! i know, that triathlon is the sport for me and i just want to thank you for helping me realize how much dertimination, strength will and passion it requires to be a triathlete. thank you once agian

christian

Have to second kyillee on that...there are days that I read about some of you guys here and what you are doing ..or look at your training logs...and it helps. While I said motivation isn't much of a problem for me....from time to time it is hard to get out the door for that second or (yikes) third workout of the day...
Having ya'all here....helps.

As Kyillee and Anton said having trifuel to go to everyday keeps you in the right frame of mind. A peer group like this, a running, or tri group keeps you involved.

I'm a very competitive guy and getting into cycling and now Tris was the best thing for me -- its a sport where skinny little guys can win!! I was a semi-pro MTB racer and took a few years off, I started channeling my competitivness at work and started becoming someone I didn't want to be. Now that I'm back in the saddle, I'm better for it.

Motivations:
Discovering what I wrote above about myself is motivation is #1. #2 Placing high in a sport that some folks are just trying to hang on -- read the "I am a very competitive guy" #3 And maybe a little shallow, I am pushing 40 and my friends from college all have potbellies. I want people to say, "holy Sh%$ that guy is 40????"

Anton has reminded me of the motivational effect of keeping a training Blog.

Just knowing I have to fill that sucker in every day makes me get out there. I don't want to have to record that:

"I stayed in bed today. Just couldn't get my lazy slug of an ass out the door."

It helps too, knowing that some of you trifuelers would be on my case about it. You know who you are.
:)

PoC

See? That's good advice from that most spontaneous of trainers - the bluebirdbiker (rarely seen in these parts, but he comes back every year in the late Spring)

Odd though, I've seldom seen anyone so controlled by his pre-planned training schedule and downloadable HRM as the BBB. heh.

PoC

(blush) Awww thanks PoC. But seriously! If ya want motivation go stand naked in front of a mirror...and lightly jump up and down! That's motivation! :D

If your chest sticks out farther than your stomach you're doing a good job. ;)

I get all of my motivation from this IM video when I want to let go : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8l249bM0FE. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to resist, I must train hard when I see it! Hope some of you can enjoy it,

-KHAD

Try doing a race on little to no training as I'm about to do in about 3 weeks. I know when I get of the bike and start the run, I'll wish I'd been getting up each morning and training like I should have. Tough love. Probably not a good thing to do, but I think it will definitely help get rid of my I did and IM-so why should I ever do another race-blues. Thanks for posting- maybe these responses will help me too!