John Proc of Ontario has his eyes set on the Lake Anna, VA Triple IRON this fall. To succeed, he will follow his own nutritional and training plan, crafted from research, including watching videos, asking questions and observing.
John is no ordinary potential inductee into triple IRONsor maybe he is. He’s an endurance cyclist and triathlete, who also completed the Lake Placid Ironman.
. Now, he’s looking for something more, and the mental and physical challenge of going straight from the Ironman to the triple IRON distance intrigues him. “I figure in my mind I can do the double,” he said. “So I want to go to the next level.”
John’s focus and expertise is on food, among other things, and for good reason. John was once extremely obese. Once an athlete in his younger years, a knee injury and life got in the way and he put on the pounds. With 85 pounds to lose he joined a gym and started to get serious about making a change in his life but he had to learn how to eat.
“I had to learn bit by bit to eat smaller portions,” Proc said. “Once me and the others in our ‘Fat Bastard’ MTB racing club group gained control of our eating and lost weight, we started to reap the joys of competition.”
Now as this IT professional prepares for the Lake Anna Triple IRON this fall, his concentration is on nutrition and not just eating right—he’s gone full swing into buying organic and has become a puritan about what goes into that body of his. Turning to whole foods, however, has become expensive.
“The amount of food required to fuel an average of over 20 hours of training a week is mind boggling. Nutrition is a constant battle, between getting enough calories from a balanced healthy diet can be tough. Grocery bills literally double, almost triple when training.” he said.
Going the whole foods route also meant studying all the nutritional supplements out there and Proc concluded they are all the same; therefore he makes his own shakes and avoids off-the-shelf products.
“Eating right is crucial,” he explained. “To lose weight I had to learn how to eat right proper portions, once I did that I eliminated foods with chemicals as much as possible. It took over two years, but I balanced my diet and learned to save money by making my own nutritional supplement drinks.
Procs advice?
“Your body needs the best food there is. You don’t need to spend tons so study up, experiment, and incorporate a balanced, organic diet.”
Read more about Proc:
Procs Blog: http://mtb-ironman.blogspot.com/
Links to relevant race reports for the 2011 year
http://mtb-ironman.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-year-in-review.html
Procs thoughts behind doing a Double-Iron at registration time
http://mtb-ironman.blogspot.com/2011/10/double-ironman-2812.html
First Ironman Race Report, the A-Race for 2011
http://mtb-ironman.blogspot.com/2011/08/ironman-lake-placid-2011-race-report.html
Procs favorite race a half-Iron but a character building experience
http://mtb-ironman.blogspot.com/2011/06/race-report-half-iron-welland-2011.html
