Name: Linda Gallo
MB Username: lindagallo
MB Activities: lindagallo.motionbased.com
Personal Website: www.lindagallo.com
Date of Birth: September 1, 1976
Birthplace: New Jersey
Resides: Mountain View, CA
2005 Recap
After a successful first year as a pro in 2004, I decided to make triathlon my full time career. I left my job as a medical device engineer and moved to the Gold Coast of Australia for three intense months of training. In early April, the increased running mileage and the hard surfaces on the Gold Coast caught up with me and I sprained a calf muscle. My time Down Under taught me some invaluable lessons about myself and my training.
Upon my return to the states I started working with a new coach, got healthy, returned my focus to Ironman distance racing, and it all started coming together. I increased my power output on the bike and finally started learning how to ride FAST!
My focus race this season was ITU Long Course World Championships in Denmark. I had a great race, leading the field for over 90k and finishing 8th!
Five weeks after World Championships I raced Ironman Wisconsin. Due to a cracked bike frame 8 days prior and an IT band at about 80%, I was using this race to gain experience for 2006. I had a great swim, exiting the water right behind the lead male with a new course record of 48:41! Since only about 60% of the pro field finished the race, a top 10 finish was an accomplishment for me on this day.
The rest of the season was spent determining the root cause of my running injuries and correcting it. Now I am staying healthy and looking forward to putting it all together in 2006!
2004 Recap
After a very successful amateur season in 2003 I was looking forward to making the jump to racing as a professional in 2004. My season started off with two very solid finishes when I placed 8th at St. Anthony's Triathlon and 6th at Wildflower Long Course the following weekend. Then a small break from racing before placing 9th at Alcatraz and my first professional victory at San Jose International - leading everyone (including the men) out of the water! Following that was a 3rd place finish at San Diego International. Then I headed to Long Distance Nationals in Muncie, IN where I placed 6th overall and was the first rookie pro finisher.
Following this, I went on to compete in 5 races and spend 2 weeks at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, all within 7 weeks. In hindsight, this turned out to be a bit too much racing and travel, but it was a great learning experience for my numerous years of racing to come. This brought me to mid September with two races left on the season. The first, I experienced my first bike crash in a race during Scott Tinley's Road Race, but went on to finish 9th after crashing full speed and changing a tubular tire. I finished off the season at Treasure Island with a 6th place finish and my fastest run of the year!
Overall, my season included:
- 11 Top Ten finishes in both Half Ironman distance and Olympic distance non drafting and draft legal races
- Leading 10 races out of the water
- Runner-Up in the Tri California Pro Series (which included results from Wildflower, Alcatraz, Pacific Grove, Scott Tinley's and Treasure Island)
- Overall victory at San Jose International
I was very excited with the results I achieved, especially in conjunction with working 30 hours a week as a medical device engineer.
2003 Recap
- 1st in the USAT Final Rankings for 25-29 age group (2003)
- USAT Female Amateur Triathlete of the Year(2003)
- 1st amateur at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii (2003)
Collegiate Swimming and my start in Triathlons
- Two time Division I NCAA All-American in Women's Swimming (1998)
- Big East Swimmer of the year (1998)
I was always an athletic, competitive person growing up, but didn't realize my full potential in swimming and later in triathlons until college and beyond. I started swimming for a summer league when she was about 5 years old and continued swimming through high school. It was mostly for the camaraderie and the exercise. I was pretty fast, but had yet to reach that next level.
I represented the Fighting Irish Swim Team as a 4 time monogram winner and team captain, while earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame from 1994 to 1998. During these four years is when I really saw my potential as an athlete and fell in love with racing and also the training aspects of competition.
The summer after graduation I did Mrs. T's triathlon in Chicago with a couple friends from the swim team. It was more of an excuse for a mini reunion. I had bought a bike for $40 at a garage sale. It was a bit too small, didn't shift very well, and I probably only rode it 40 miles all summer. I ran occasionally, but swam consistently all summer, since that was my background and main way of keeping in shape. I am pretty sure I didn't break three hours in the Olympic distance race, but it succeeded in getting me interested in the sport.
That fall I started grad school at the University of Michigan. After being a graduate assistant coach for the Varsity Women's Swim Team during my first year, I joined the Ann Arbor Triathlon Club that summer. It was something to do to keep in shape besides swimming and I was getting that competitive itch back. Plus it was a good social group. I had biked occasionally in high school and college but mostly to get from place to place. Plus a couple of seasons of track and cross-country in high school, but at a much different level than my swimming. I didn't really start to enjoy running until well into grad school.
I invested in a slightly better bike and did about four triathlons that summer (1999). No bike shoes and aerobars though until the beginning of the following summer (2000). I was convinced it was faster to bike in running shoes since you didn't have to change your shoes after the bike.
I had a couple of friends doing Ironman Lake Placid in July, 2000 so I decided to go for it! I finished grad school in May, 2000 with a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, but wasn't starting my job until the end of August, so it was the perfect opportunity to train and race. At this point triathlon was still more of a social activity and a hobby, partially due to the climate in Michigan and partially because I hadn't yet realized I could take it to another level.
I moved to Sunnyvale, California in August, 2000 to work as an Engineer for a medical device company, W.L. Gore & Associates. Once I arrived in the Bay Area, I really started to get into the sport. I had the opportunity to train with a few local pros, Gina and Becky, which really opened my eyes to where I could go in the triathlon world. This was a significant turning point in my career.
Training and working doesn't leave time for much else, but the physical and mental exhilaration of training, in addition to the camaraderie associated with the sport, make everything very worth it. I have improved each year I've raced and believe I have the potential to continue improving through 2008 and beyond. 2004 will be my first year racing as a pro and I'm looking forward to the challenge! I will be focusing primarily on Olympic and Half Ironman distance races; including some ITU races to gain experience and excel in that style of racing.