Former Iowa State standout Lisa Koll is embracing change.  The 2010 NCAA champion in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters recently signed a contract with Nike and moved to Portland, Oregon to join the Oregon Track Club – arguably one of the most elite distance running groups in the country.  With a new coach in Jerry Schumacher, new training partners and new running routes, a lot has changed for Koll in the past few months, and she’s enjoying all of it. Competitor.com caught up with Koll a couple weeks after she took trip to Maui, where she vacationed with her Oregon Track Club teammates, including training partner Shalane Flanagan, the newly-minted marathoner who finished second at New York City in November.

Competitor.com: First, how was Maui?

Lisa Koll: Oh, it was a blast.  We got back from New York from the marathon on Monday evening and we left on Wednesday for Maui, so it was really quick turnaround.  But yeah, we had a blast.  Everyone brought their families, like Jerry’s [Schumacher] whole family was there, and everyone’s wives and husbands, so we all just hung out and enjoyed each other’s company and laid on the beach.  We still got some good training in, but it was a really good time.

What’s your training load like right now?

Training has been a lot of base.  I mean, right now, I’m running at least 100 miles a week, pretty much consistently every week.  So, high volume, lots of strength workouts like long tempos.  Pretty much all the efforts are more sustained efforts than anything too quick, too hard.  So, good volume and then that core, general strength stuff too.  I’ve been doing some more of that than I did in college.

How are you feeling so far with the high mileage?