Northeast alum just keeps going, and going and going

The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Aaron Ford.

The Booneville High School graduate wants to keep it that way as he keeps going and going and going.

Ford finished fourth in his age group (25-29) at the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City Beach, Fla., earlier this month but it was not his first foray into the sport.

“Actually it was my seventh,” Ford said. “This is my third year to do them. You get better every time because it’s not just one thing, it’s three so you never know what can happen and there are always areas of improvement.”

While Ford has been competing in triathlon for over three years, his performance has only gotten better. The NortheastMississippiCollege alum finished third in the 2007 Tri4God triathlon and in the 2007 Heart of Dixie triathlon. Ford turned in his best performance – results wise – during the 2008 Rebelman Triathlon where he finished fourth overall and first in his age group.

Ford participated in the medium distance triathlon during the GulfCoast event in early May. That consisted of a 1.2-mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico, a 56-mile bike ride and then running 13 miles after the first two events. The University of Mississippi Medical Center physical therapy student cleared all three phases of the course in less than five hours but says he could have done better under ideal circumstances.

“I was trying to finish about 20 minutes before that,” Ford said. “I had a bike wreck and an upset stomach but it just goes to show that no matter how much a person trains they never know how their body is going to react to the stresses placed on it.”

The GulfCoast triathlon was Ford’s first swim in an open body of water and as he describes, “it was really tough!”

What is a Triathlon?

A triathlon comprises three phases – swimming, biking and running and distances vary according on the type of triathlon an athlete is participating in.

In the Olympics, athletes are only required to swim 1.5-kilometers (.93 miles), bike 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) and run a 10-K (6.2 miles) while a Half or medium distance triathlon – which Ford competed in -- is almost double that. Ford had to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles and then run 13.1 miles but that is not the top echelon of the triathlons.

The Full Triathlon or other wise known as the Ironman doubles the half with a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a regulation marathon run (26.2 miles)

Ford explained the various stages of what goes into being a Triathlete -- from prepping the night before and the day of the race to actually going through the motions of the race.

“First event is the swim usually in open water in a lake or ocean,” Ford said. “Volunteers are in canoes or boats out there for safety. It is usually an out-and-back with large inflatable buoys to mark the route.”

A look at the results also a reveals a pair of times that are not related to the swim, bike or running events. The “T-time” is time in transition from one stage to another.

“Most races are chip timed which means you wear a black chip on your leg in Velcro in which you run over a pad at the end of each swim, bike, run, or transition and it stops your time for that and starts it for another,” Ford explained. “That’s how you get the split times so detailed.”

The MississippiStateUniversity alum used his time in transition from the swim stage to the bike stage to close the gap between the competition. Ford blew passed his age group in T-1 with a time of 2:16 with his nearest competition lagging eight seconds behind him.

“I usually step on a towel to wipe debris off my feet, slip on my bike shoes,” said Ford, “put on my helmet and sunglasses and run my bike out of transition to cross the pad, which then allows you to mount the bike.”

The Booneville graduate also pointed out that his student funds could have helped him win the transition from the swim to the biking area.

“I can’t afford a wetsuit like most guys had,” said Ford. “I really practice that a lot and have everything ready to go when I get there so I don’t lose time.”

Ford did point out that he tries to get his biking shoes loose on his feet since there is no time to slip on socks after swimming for 1.2 miles.

If racking up close to 60 miles in swimming and biking was not enough, triathletes have another stage to go after biking and that includes going through another transition from re-racking their bike to getting as much nutrients in them as possible.

Why do it?

A question that almost every triathlete must face one time in their life or not is, “What possesses them to do this?”

Ford uses the triathlon as a hobby and as an escape from being a physical therapy student.

“I would say it is (a hobby),” Ford said. “It is a lot of fun and a way to meet new people.”

While meeting new people, it was members of his class at MississippiState that actually got Ford hooked on the sport.

“A guy I worked with my senior year of college asked me to try a triathlon,” Ford recalled. “It was a short one – a one-third of a mile swim, 18-mile bike ride and a three-mile run -- so I got a plan off the Internet and trained on a Wal-Mart bike. It just was a lot of fun for me and something to keep me in shape so I kept it up.”

Ford’s family even got in on the act during the Gulf Coast Triathlon in May.

Ford’s sisters, Lauren and Suzanne came to watch their brother compete but he claims that “it was probably because it was at the beach though!”

The Booneville resident claims that the when he tells people he does triathlons for fun the response is split.

“Most people either think that it is really dumb or really cool,” Ford said. “(My sisters) haven’t said anything about it.”

The University of Mississippi Medical Center student does not have much time to practice for a triathlon considering he plays in a praise band at church, holds down a job and the majority of his time is devoted to studying.

However, while Ford is out on the course, all that disappears and he concentrates on the races and the atmosphere surrounding it.

“During the swim and bike I am usually getting mentally prepared for transition and just trying to go hard but not too hard as to get worn out,” Ford said. “During the run, I am usually gauging how fast I have to go in order to finish strong and not run out of gas.”

”Most of all I just try to enjoy the atmosphere and try to have fun,” Ford added.

Training and Exercise

The distance of the race will dictate the amount of training required, according to Ford.

Nevertheless, all things need to be done in moderation.

“The most important thing is knowing when to go hard and when to go easy,” Ford said. “Your body can’t go hard every day. It’s the cycle of hard and easy days that make you recover to be better.”

It is the training that gets to an athlete and it all depends on their schedule to train as much as they can with or without partners.

“Most of my training during the week I do by myself,” Ford said. “That’s due to my schedule but the longer rides and runs I try to find others to go with.”

Being a student in Jackson has its benefits to training for a triathlon.

Ford builds up his swimming prowess at the Courthouse Gym in Jackson and does a few laps in the Ross Barnett Reservoir when he wants to practice in open water.

Running can be done anywhere but Ford likes the scenic nature of the Natchez Trace Parkway when he is training his legs for the bike-portion of the event.

Ford did have one word of warning to those that want to start training for a triathlon.

“Never do them all together until the race,” Ford said. “I usually do two things every day. The only essential is the bike to run transition and I do one of those a week because you have to get used to ‘Jell-O’ legs when you start running.”

Ford gave some tips on running a triathlon and the preparation that goes into it.

“I usually tell people to find a goal, get a training plan out of a magazine or internet, and stick to it,” the NortheastMississippiCommunity College alum said. “Don’t ramp up your intensity too quick or you will get injured. The best things are small training, volume consistently, and then build up. That will keep them from getting hurt.”

Plans and racing

Gulf Coast’s triathlon was only a half and Ford wants to build up to a Full Triathlon, which involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a regulation marathon run (26.2 miles).

Ford already has the plans in place to qualify for the “Big Kahuna” of the Ironman circuit – the Hawaii Ironman World Championships held in Kona, Hawaii. The preparations are already in place nearly two years from qualifying for the race where temperatures can reach 110-degrees and crosswinds have been clocked at 55 miles per hour.

“If all goes according to plan, I’m going to do a marathon in either December or January,” Ford said. “That will hopefully qualify me for the Boston Marathon.”

Racing in one of the premier marathons in the United States is just one part of an Ironman competition and Ford knows that to succeed he has to compete in another Ironman competition before the Hawaii Ironman in 2010.

“I plan to race a full Ironman Florida in October or November of 2009,” Ford said. “If I do well I will qualify for Ironman world championships in Hawaii October 2010.”

Even while his father Ricky has applied his own “Built Ford Tough” logo to the Lady Tigers basketball team at NortheastMississippiCommunity College, the younger Ford will just keep going and going and going in his pursuit of being an Ironman.