Newly-crowned American Collegiate Record Holder in the 10K, Lisa Koll, an Iown Cyclone, is riding high, but keeping things in perspective. In her record run, she negative split a 5K that was a mere two seconds from her 5K personal-best time. Looking to the NCAA Championships and beyond, this distance runner will continue to excel.

A few days after running the American Collegiate Record in the 10K, how do you feel?

It's still kind of settling in. It was shocking at first anyway. It feels good taking it all into consideration. Yeah, it was great, but there's still work for the future. There's still a lot I want to do, so I can't let it get to my head.

Did you know you had it in you?

Deep down I think I did. I was confident going in and running just as fast as I could. I was confident in the fact that I had just as good of a shot as anyone else. When I was going into it, the goal was to run between 32:30 and 32:45. I knew I was in that kind of shape. I was pretty surprised at how comfortable I felt all the way up until the end. Obviously to negative split 15:54, I think was my second 5K, with my 5K PR being 15:52...so, it was definitely kind of a shock.

15:52 was your 5K PR before this race, what was your previous 10K PR?

Before this race, my 10K PR was 35:3x, I've only ran one other 10K last year and it was at the Big 12 Conference Meet. It was more of a tactical race, just because it was so hot out and close to 100 degrees. The first half of the race everyone was just jogging because nobody wanted to lead. No one wanted to race until the second half because of the heat. I think I was capable of running faster than that last year. But, I think my 10K PR was a bit of a...wash. You can't really compare.

With that big negative split, are you ready to break off a big 5K PR?

I'm definitely going to stick to the 10 and focus on the 10. I'm probably going to run a 5K this season just because I don't want to race too many 10Ks. I don't want to get tired. I'd really like to get a new 5K PR. Especially now that I'm confident I can run a lot faster in the 5K. As for nationals and the future, I'm going to focus on the 10K.

Can you go into your training? What kind of stuff have you been doing lately?

Well, I haven't been doing anything special or out of the ordinary. People having been asking, "what have you been doing with your training, you've had so much improvement?" But I think I've just been able to consistently train at a high level without being injured or fatigued. And I've had some really good blocks of training in the past couple of years. It's been adding up and I've added in some more intense workouts this year. Workouts that are more tailored toward the 10K. That and I upped my mileage a lot this summer too. I definitely took some risks with mileage and training and luckily they paid off...instead of going the other way and getting injured.

What kind of mileage did you jump up to?

This summer my highest was 92. But I've been consistently been running between 80 and 85 this past cross country season.

Now, is upping your mileage the risks you were talking about?

I think the risk was the mileage. Last year the highest mileage I hit was 75, averaging between 65 and 70. So, I've upped my average about 15 miles a week. That was something where I'm happy I wasn't getting injured or fatigued. Even with workouts too, I'm careful to get my recovery. My workouts last year were a little bit shorter, with less pace work.

Is there a workout that stands out to you as being the hardest?

I think there was one day where we did 12 400s and there were two hammers in the middle of them. We were supposed to go at a certain pace. I think on the eighth one, my coach was like, "run this one as fast as you can." I went all-out on the eighth one, then I did nine and ten and the 11th was all-out again. But I didn't know it was going to be all-out until I was about to run it. It was kind of a shock, but it was good because it taught me how to respond to surges in races. I think that was the hardest one because the hammers were unexpected, then trying to come back and get on pace was tough.

Do you know a tentative schedule for your spring?

Kind of the plan, right now, is to run a 5K at the Drake Relays, so I can run at home. I ran there at high school and I've got some nostalgia. After that probably Big 12s, maybe double there in the 10 and the five, then nationals in the 10. Then the Trials in the 10.

Do you have goals for this season?

It's one of those things where I have to go back and reevaluate a bunch of things, because I didn't realize the kind of fitness I was in. Before I had a goal just to make it to the Trials and would be happy just to be there. Now, it's like, I can run even faster than I ran. So, goals have changed. Obviously the main goal remains the same: just get better, I just want to keep running faster. And that's the big goal in mind. But for other goals, I'd like to win a national title, obviously. Then break the collegiate record as well. Then, at the Trials, to qualify and go to Beijing would be a dream come true.

As you reevaluate things, would you say you're breaking out right now?

Yeah, I think so. Like I said, it's something where you don't want to get too wrapped up in it. It was one great race and I'm happy for it and now I'm realizing that it's all starting to come together. I think I've got to the point where my fitness, my experience, my mental during races are all peaking together. I'm learning...and I guess, like you said, this race is kind of a break out. I felt like I was almost there, but not quite there. Now, I kind of feel like I'm ready to put myself out there. I hope to do even more.

Last question: can you give me a crazy story from your running past?

I don't know if it's crazy, but one of my most memorable runs, for sure, was during the winter of my freshman year in college. Me and one my teammate wanted to go and do a long run. The problem was it was colder than negative 30 out. There were like 35mph winds. But we were like, "man, we really need to get our long run in". It wasn't getting any better so we had another teammate of ours drop us off in a small town near ours and we were going to run back, with the wind, so it would be less cold. On our way back we ended up getting lost and running extra. I don't even know how long on top of what were supposed to do. AND we were running into the wind on the side of a highway with cars passing us. It was freezing and the wind was blowing and it was horrible (laughs). We wanted to go about 13 miles and ended up doing about 15. It was horrible.