Northern Iowa's Tyler Mulder won the 800-meter NCAA Championship last indoor track season. This time around he's looking for a faster time, but the same result.

How is your fitness right now?

It's going pretty well right now. I just got the flu, but it's been pretty good.

What are your goals for this indoor season?

My goals for this indoor season would be to win nationals again, but also to improve on all my times from last year. The 600, I'd like to get my time down to like 1:16 or faster, 1:15. And be more aggressive for the first lap of that 600, for the 400 through four. I want to help out the team's four by four as well. Possibly DMR. Also to start off where I stopped in outdoors. I want to go 1:46 indoors for time. I also want to set the indoor school record in the 800, which Joey Woody has. I want to break all his records at school. For my strength I want to improve my 1,000 time and get down to like—I don't know, I never got the feel for the 1,000—so I want to get like 2:24. That would make me happy.

Is the thousand the highest you'll go up or if you did the DMR, would you do the 1,200?

It's a possibility. I've been working on a little more mileage this year, just in case. If they need me as an option for that then it's a possibility. I can do that and I want to be competitive in that. I could throw down a good time in that so I could like run 55 or 54 for that, something like that to hang in there with the leaders. That way we could be competitive at Nationals.

Have you ever run a competitive mile?

Not really. I always run it as one of the first races of my year. I never really cared to try for it until last year. It was really windy and there wasn't much competition, so I ran it relaxed. But, no, I've never run a competitive mile. I'd like to and I think I might be able to this year with Andrew Perkins on the team. He's a pretty solid miler and 800 guy from high school.

Do you think there's a chance of you moving up in distance?

There's a possibility, but I like sticking around the half-mile. I'd be willing to do anything though. I just love the 800.

You mentioned bumping up your mileage a little bit, can you describe a training week for you?

Usually we have a day of hills and two workouts. As far as mileage, I didn't have much last year. I was getting maybe 30 to 40ish. Now I'm getting 40, 45, or 50. My mileage hasn't gone up a whole lot, but it's gone up some.

Is any of that tempo work?

No, I don't do much of that. Just fartleks and stuff. I'm not much for tempo. The fartleks are like three minutes on then one minute off. Two and a half on, one minute off. Then all the way down to one and a half minutes on.

What kind of pace do you do these at?

The pace was around 5:45 miles or something like that. I sort of forgot, but my friend has a Garmin and knows exactly what it was.

Overall how would you say your Olympic Trials experience went?

It was a good experience, I just wish I would have done better. It was good to be there. I let my nerves get to me and was really nervous for it. I was a little too excited to be there. That's why I didn't do as well as I should have had. I don't regret anything about it, I was just happy to be there. I would have been really happy to make to the next round.

What was your goal?

My ultimate goal was to make the finals. I would have loved it to have made it to the next round at least. I would have felt a lot better about it. It just makes me want to work hard for the next four years, in 2012.

There's a really strong field of 800 runners in our country. Are you intimidated or can you rise to the occasion?

I like to think I can rise to the occasion. I don't get to race them much, but I was excited to have Symmonds in my race for the pre-lims. I figured that he would sit in the back and kick like he did. I would like to be in a race where it's competitive with those kind of guys. At nationals, I was in a competitive race with Hernandez and Wheating, but I didn't have enough gas in the tank to do anything about it. If I was a little more fresh then I could have risen to the occasion.

What's the perfect 800-meter race? How would you choose to have it play out?

For me I don't like to be the head guy, unless I have to be, but I like to get out in 51ish, maybe 50. Then get through the six comfortably, right around 1:18 or 1:19 or something. Probably more like 1:17-1:18. Then finish with whatever I have left. That's another reason I want to work on my strength, so I can close that race a lot harder.

How big of a role does faith play in your running?

It's everything. Every time before I race I pray. I recently got a tattoo that has my favorite verse that I always concentrate on: I do all things through Christ to give me strength. I believe that to the fullest. I wouldn't be anywhere without my faith really. I grew up in a Christian School in high school. I've always been very grateful for the talent that God has given me.

Can you give me a bit of information about you that most people might not know about you?

Most people don't know that I'm Native American. I just think sometimes people wonder what race I am. Also I'm very goal oriented and that I post my goals all over the room and house and such.