Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Sence has new altitude
Runner moves to Boulder to improve Olympic hopes
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For John Sence, it's time to take his running to a higher level. Literally.
Sence left Monday for Boulder, Colo., and four weeks of altitude training in preparation for the Olympic Marathon Trials. The trip to Boulder is probably the most important phase of Sence's training for the May 7 trials in Pittsburgh.
“I'm going into the four weeks with a good base,” Sence said. “Now, it's time to take it up a notch and do some more quality work.”
Boulder is the mecca of U.S. distance running. Sence will train with Jerry Lawson, the former U.S. marathon record holder, among others.
“There's a group of 15 to 20 guys who all train together,” Sence said. “Training with the big boys should help me.”
Sence took a leave of absence from his job as underwriter with Cincinnati Financial in mid-January to begin concentrating full-time on training.
“That's helped quite a bit,” he said. “I'm able to get the sleep I need. When I was working, by the end of the week I was getting pretty tired.”
Sence battled a foot injury in December, but he's been healthy since. That's allowed him to build his base mileage up to as many as 150 miles a week.
Sence ran a 1:03.10 half marathon in Austin, Texas, in February, just slower than his personal best of 1:02:56.
He would have broken his PR easily, but his calf cramped the last few miles.
Still, a 1:03 projects out to a 2:11 to 2:12 marathon. That would put Sence in the thick of the race for one of the three U.S. spots.
“It's going to take 2:12 to 2:13 to make the team,” he said. “It's wide-open. Nobody is head and shoulders above the rest. It's matter of who's on that day.”
Sence had considered coming back from Boulder to run in the Heart Mini-Marathon March 26.
“But for the altitude training to be effective, you have to stay up there for four weeks,” he said. “I want to concentrate on training to get the full effect.”
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