COLO SPRINGS, CO. (May 21, 2008) - From the very cluttered desk of Alison Dunlap
The LUNA XTERRA Team competed in the first big national race of the season. Since I am not the expert on XTERRAs, I'll let the girls share their stories with you. And no I can't see my desk there is so much stuff on it these days. Happy reading!

Danelle Kabush swam, biked, and ran to an outstanding 4th place finish in her first race back after a 19 month layoff. Congratulations!

Danelle's XTERRA West Championship Report
May 18th, 2008

I'm sore, blistered, chaffed and slightly burned (despite heaps of sunblock!) and rehydrating after a smoking hot opening Xterra race in near 100 degree temps this past Sunday. I'm not ecstatic, nor disappointed, but quite satisfied with my first return to Xterra racing in 19 months. Here is the story.

J-F, Zoé, and I were lucky to arrive in San Diego Friday night at my dear friend Amy's (pictured below with Zoé and Jason who ripped it up in the Sport race) after two plane delays gave us an 8 hour layover in the Vancouver airport. With all the wait time I got my first ever pedicure and decked my nails out in team Luna blue to keep my spirits up.

Saturday was a whirlwind adventure in heat acclimatization as we arrived in Temecula in time to do a lap of the course at 1:00pm, hot, hot, hot, but I was feeling good on my bike and ripping down the descents faster than ever on my speedy Orbea - and thanks to my recent discovery that I now need contact lenses - wow really makes a difference at speed! Following the ride I met up with my Luna team mate and swim phenom Linda Gallo, and was very excited to try out my new Blue Seventy swimskin in the refreshing Vail Lake.

Race day came bright and early with the Pro wave taking off at 8:00am the next day. I had to check my list twice as I was a little rusty and anxious about forgetting how to do the whole transition/triathlon drill again, not to mention the get Zoé fed drill in time to get in a warm-up in too. We had the pleasure of diving into a flat calm lake and when the churning pack sorted itself out on the one lap 1500m swim I found myself leading a small pack - whoops, so much for the drafting plan - one day that will work out! Meanwhile up at the front Linda Gallo, Michellie Jones, and Christine Jeffrey taking a break from the road tris and showing us how it's done it the water!

As always I was happy to get going on my bike and felt strong from the start. Without a single patch of shade in sight and hardly any breeze either I guzzled down as much Luna Sport Electrolyte Splash as I could along with Clif Shots. After coming out of the water in 10th position I worked hard to make up as much time as I could over the two lap sandy, fast, and steep rolling course with the odd cluster of rocks.

With the 4th fastest bike split of the day I left transition in 4th position and soon caught third who was already walking by the first hill. The run course in Temecula is probably the toughest in the Xterra series. It is two laps of straight up loose sandy terrain and follows a ridge for awhile before pounding back down to transition. The two choices for the climbs are hands-on-knees long strides or short baby run steps. I mixed it up and then grabbed the odd bush for support on the downs along with the fast hand-circle technique to try and keep myself upright. I was getting the dreaded cold shivers and seemed to be stuck in one gear as the mighty Xterra veteran Jenny Tobin pulled a slow motion catch and pass on me to leave me back in 4th position at the finish as I crossed in exactly 3 hrs, and 8min back of 1st place, which is an alright start considering Temecula was my nemesis course and has been my worst of the season the last two years I raced it.

Next up are the back-to-back races: Xterra Southeast Championship on June 8th in Birmingham, Alabama and the Xterra East Championship in Richmond, Virginia on June 15th.

Linda Gallo, a member of the LUNA Triathlon Team has been mixing it up in the XTERRA races. In Temecula she was the second competitor out of the water, out of all the pro men and women! Here's what Linda had to say.

Linda's XTERRA West Championship Report

I woke up the morning of my FIRST Xterra a bit nervous about the unknown! The lake was a balmy 74°F degrees (to match the expected high of 100°F for the air temp!) so this was a non-wetsuit swim. Better for me! The men and women started together which is good and bad. Then I can draft off some of the faster guys, but the guys also start much quicker, so it's hard not to go anaerobic in the first few hundred meters. Shortly after the gun went off there were two groups headed out to the first buoy. Unfortunately, I was in the group that took the longer line and we arrived at the first buoy about 20 seconds behind. I went to the front of my group of guys and spent the rest of the swim chasing the two swimmers in front. I finally caught up with about 200 meters to go and was second person and first woman out of the water!

On the bike, I made it up the first little technical bit and felt comfortable on the whole ride, even the downhill rocky sections (once I remembered to get my weight back!). I was able to hold my own on the uphill sections, but lost time on the downhill and single track. (note to self: increase mountain bike ride frequency from 1 to 2 rides a week) Towards the end of the first loop I rode a bit off trail and encountered some brush, which subsequently caused minor injury #1 shown below, before quickly getting back on the trail. The second loop proved uneventful ( a good thing!), yet as I was headed down the short sandy hill and back to transition, I took a corner too close, had my weight too far forward and took a small spill/abort and fell to the side causing minor injury #2. I was quickly up and on my way after turning my handlebars around and putting my chain back on.

The run started with a single track trail straight up the side of the mountain, which was a bit demoralizing, especially with the heat and sun. Once I got about half way into the run, I got a Clif Shot in and some electrolytes and started to feel better and hammered the second half of the run.

Overall, I was first out of the water, 10th off the bike, and finished 11th; and more importantly, had a blast! Definitely a fun race and I look forward to a few more XTERRA races the second half of the season. It was great to hang out with Danelle and a bummer Shonny wasn't there. Hopefully she is recovering from her injuries, which I am sure were far more significant than minor injuries 1 and 2 discussed herein!

What's next?
Danelle and Shonny Vanlandingham will compete in the XTERRA Southeast Championships in Birmingham, AL on June 8th. On the same day, half way across the country, Linda Gallo will be swimming with the sharks in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. We wish them the best of luck!!

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