Tom Rodgers caught up with a busy Craig Alexander at the Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3 triathlon—one of oldest and most revered in the entire 70.3 series. Because of post-Boise 70.3 illness and recovery issues, Alexander wasn’t able to race, but still took the time to give a talk at the race expo. Afterwards, Rodgers took the opportunity to get to know the athlete better and to hear his thoughts on the race, Kona, and living in the U.S.

LAVA: You said you were sick recently. We hear a lot about overtraining, overracing, people burning out. In your head, what’s the internal dialog like?

ALEXANDER: For me, I have to be conscious I have bigger races to do later in the year. It is true I was sick before Boise, but I’m okay now. When you do races on consecutive weekends or even do a double and then a miss a weekend, you don’t get those back to back training weeks in. Better to cut my losses and not do Buffalo Springs, then I could have three consecutive back-to-back weeks. The internal dialog was just, “be smart.” I’ve already raced six times this year, and won five of them. I think my season so far has been very good. My form is good so there is no need to panic. I’m disappointed because I didn’t get to race Buffalo Springs. When you’ve been around as long as I have, part of the excitement is . . .

All the famous people who have raced here …

Right, and it’s great to do a race that’s actually got some history.

Scott Tinley, Dave Scott, Natascha Badmann …

Mirinda Carfrae said to me “you’ll love that race.” Once you commit to a race organizer that you’re going to be somewhere, it’s hard.

[Race director] Mike Greer is just glad you’re here. We think you’ll come back here and race someday.

I’ll definitely come back here, absolutely.

Once you get past this and you get closer to Kona, when will you start what some athletes call the “push,” or the dedicated work that’s more specific to Kona?

August, all of August. So I won’t race then. The way I’ve scheduled later in the year, working backwards from Kona, I have a race four weeks out in Muskoka, after a taper and a push phase. It’s important to taper to test your fitness and your training, to see if you’ve absorbed it. You’ve still got four weeks to change it up. Before Muskoka there is no racing. I thought if I don’t do Buffalo Springs, then I still get to do my VO2-max (hard anaerobic work) three weeks back-to-back. Then a week easy, race Life Time, then race Racine, then a week off, then more into a push phase.

Life Time really supports triathlon …

They cater towards endurance athletes. I go back to support Bahram [Akradi, founder of Life Time Fitness]. He thought we were a great sport. He had major leagues teams like the NFL and Major League Baseball, but these guys don’t train like the triathletes do, who don’t get any of the recognition or the money.

They caused Ironman people to up their prize money.

It was great for our sport, and I was lucky enough to win in ’05—it was a life-changing experience.

You said today you now are six months here [in the USA] and six months in Australia. What’s the one thing in America that you like better here, and what’s the one thing that Australia has that you can’t find here?

The thing I miss most in the US is the beach. Colorado is land-locked, but the mountains are a pretty good substitute. My wife and I talk about it all the time: we really enjoy living in the US. I think it’s got a lot of natural beauty. I spent time in San Diego as well, where the attitude was very similar to Australia. Things I like about the US? The cost of living seems to be cheaper here than at home.

If you can say that about Boulder and San Diego, you would love Texas! Have you considered—like Greg Welch and other Australians–maybe living here after you’re out of racing?

I think we’ll always come back for sure, but I think home will always be Sydney. That’s where our family is. My wife Neri is from a very big family, and they would never forgive me if I took her and their grandkids away. But unless you’ve got your head in the sand, the US is the major circuit. It’s where all the media attention, where all the sponsorship opportunities are. Even though it’s a global sport, it’s where most of the great races are.

You’ve dominanated the men’s 70.3 and now the Ironman, and Chrissie Wellington is really dominant in what she’s doing right now too. If you had to pick a woman who might have a chance against Chrissie in Kona in 2010, who would it be?

Three girls may give her a run: Mirinda Carfrae is at the top of my list. I think when you’ve got a killer run like she has, and you love the heat like she does, you’re always going to be a danger there.

When she finished here in the 2008 Buffalo Springs race she didn’t even look tired, bouncing around like a little jitterbug.

She’s a pocket rocket! Julie Dibens is going to add an interesting dynamic in that race. Cat Morrison, I think, who’s been one of Chrissie’s training partners, just won in Lanzarote. That being said, Chrissie is the champion: she’s not going to just hand it to them. She knows how to perform on the big day, and she knows how to get in great shape. But these three girls, I would say. And I lean towards Rinnie [Mirinda Carfrae], because it was only her first go-round there last year, but I think she’s going to be better this year.