Abstract: With January almost gone and my first race of the season less than 90 days away, I’d better get serious about fitness again. I did so with the help of an impulse purchase at my local bookstore Saturday.

Well, I’ve been slacking off for far too long. Month after month—basically since August last year when I left for Russia—I’ve been letting myself go. I’ve been eating too much and often of the wrong things; I’ve gone completely off any sort of organized fitness plan. I gained almost 10 pounds by the end of the holiday season. This is not a very auspicious beginning to what I was hoping would be a better racing year than last.

So what am I going to do now that I’ve arrived at this sorry state of affairs? I spent part of the weekend thinking about just that and attempting to bootstrap my commitment to eating right, exercising properly and stop making excuses. I did some of that during a brisk, hour-long hike in Las Virgenes Canyon on Sunday, so at least I made a start. Actually, over the past two weeks, I’d been back at the gym about three times to at least do 30 minute cardio sessions, so I was already slowly progressing down the right track.

But as with most stuff in my life, it took a catalyst—a sudden “Ah HA” moment—to jolt me out of my complacency. This was Saturday evening during an impulse stop at the mall (sadly, on the way home from a chicken burger and fries dinner at Red Robin, but I digress…). I was at the Barnes & Noble browsing around and purchasing a couple of architecture & design books, when Frank Sepe’s book The TRUTH caught my eye, lying there innocently on a table near the check out counter. He’s a bodybuilder and fitness trainer and for some reason (uh…yeah right…) I thought I’d buy it on a whim (after dutifully reading the blurb on the slipcover).

Funny thing is, that upon reading it, his plan is very much like what I was being taught by Amy at the gym all last year. Huh—who’d have though? The book is quite engaging, though, and it has great photography, particularly of a whole slew of weight training exercises depicting proper form. I’m beginning to put it into practice TODAY, and I know that I’ll see results.

Funny thing is, after reading through the book and examining myself and looking once again at my fitness goals, I’m thinking that my career as an amateur triathlete may be coming to an end—or perhaps another hiatus—quicker than I’d thought. But that’s a subject for a future entry…

Anyhow, below is the book cover plus a link for you to buy it through Amazon.com. Can you see why the cover caught my attention? Stay tuned for progress reports…