Lisa Uhl (31:12 10K) Leaves Oregon for Iowa

LISA UHL TO REJOIN IHMELS AT IOWA STATE

By David Monti

(c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

(Used with permission)



(13-Sep) -- Coming off of a successful season where 

she made her first USA Olympic team and lowered her 

10,000m personal best to 31:12.80, Lisa Uhl has decided

 to make a big change. She is leaving the Oregon Track 

Club Elite program in Portland under coach Jerry Schumacher 

and returning to Ames, Iowa, where she will rejoin her former 

Iowa State University coach Corey Ihmels.  Uhl, 25, who grew 

up in Fort Dodge, about an hour's drive from Ames, will train 

under Ihmels and also work for him as a volunteer assistant coach.



"I think a lot of people make changes after an Olympic year, and I 

think it's a good time to risk if you think you need to change 

something," Uhl said speaking on her mobile phone to 

Race Results Weekly from Portland last night.  "I think I've felt 

like I've needed to make a change for a little bit now, but I wanted

 to makes sure I gave Jerry and Shalane (Flanagan)and the rest of 

the group a significant amount of time to make sure that it just was

n't me being homesick, and to make sure it's the right change and 

the right move because it's a big change and a big decision."



Uhl, then running under her maiden name Lisa Koll, won the NCAA 

titles at both 5000m and 10,000m in 2010 and joined Schumacher's 

group in Portland to train with Flanagan shortly thereafter.  

In her first race in OTC kit at the University of Washington Indoor Preview 

Meet in January, 2011, Flanagan paced Uhl to a personal best and facility record 8:53.14 

over 3000m.  Uhl, who married Iowa State teammate Kiel Uhl one year ago, said she enjoyed

 training with Flanagan and that Schumacher taught her how to work even harder.



"Jerry, Shalane and the group have been nothing but supportive and great to me in my time in

 Portland," Uhl explained.  "I'm very thankful for the time that I've had there.  I think it

 just hasn't been the right fit for me.  It's really hard to explain."



Uhl struggled to find the words, but said she was struggling with an issue which is familiar

 to many Americans: trying to find the right work/life balance.



"I feel like I gave up being close to my family and a lot of other things involved in my 

life that weren't revolving around running," she said.  "I think taking balance out of my

 life has been difficult for me.  I think I need to get back to a situation where I have

 more balance in my life outside of running and I think that will help me perform better

 athletically.  I just really struggled trying to find happiness both personally and 

athletically out here.  That has nothing to do with the group or the coaching; it's just not

 the right fit for me."



Also, Flanagan's move to the marathon and the arrival of Kara Goucher in the group last year

 had also changed the direction of workouts towards marathon running (both Flanagan and 

Goucher are running the Boston Marathon next April).  Uhl said she plans to continue to 

focus on the track and does not want to move to the marathon for at least a few years.



"Right now, Kara and Shalane have obviously been more marathon-focused, and I don't want to 

do that for a few more years, at least," Uhl said.  "So, I did end up doing a lot of training

 on my own here, but I was meeting-up with them for easy runs every day.  It wasn't a lack 

of training partners or a feeling that I wasn't fitting into the group.  When I say it 

wasn't the right fit, it's not that I didn't fit in with the people here, that I wasn't 

accepted, or that I needed other training partners.  It was more of the fit with the 

training."



Uhl said that she and her husband have put their condominium on the market and on Sunday will

 begin the 28-hour drive to Ames.  She said she plans to fly back to Portland later to fully

 empty their home after it is sold, but for now feels she needs to get to Iowa as soon as 

possible to start working with Ihmels because the NCAA cross country season is already in 

full swing.



"I'm really looking forward to that, being involved in something that isn't purely focused 

on my own running, and king of giving back to the university which gave me so much and so 

many opportunities," she said.



Not surprisingly, Ihmels is thrilled to have his star athlete return to Ames.



"We couldn't be more excited to have Lisa back in Ames and as part of our track and field 

and cross country staff here at Iowa State University," Ihmels wrote in an e-mail to Race 

Results Weekly last night.  "She has meant so much to our program and to now be able to have

 her here on a daily basis will have a profound impact on all our student athletes.  I am 

looking forward to the opportunity to coach Lisa and to continue the progress she has made 

since leaving Ames. I really feel she has a bright future and I can think of no better place

 to get that accomplished than Ames, Iowa."



Looking ahead, Uhl said she planned to do at least one road race in the fall, and was 

particularly excited that the USA Outdoor Championships would be in Des Moines next year, 

just a half hour drive from Ames.



"I'm probably going to do some indoor meets, focus on getting a little more pop in my legs,"

 she said.  "Maybe U.S. Indoors, then focus on probably the five/ten double at USA's in Des

 Moines, which is going to be great having it so close to home."



PHOTO: Lisa Uhl, running under her maiden name Koll, competing at the 2011 IAAF World Cross 

Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, where she won a team bronze medal 

.