[3][4] She spent many hours perfecting her strokes in the pool at the Boise Family YMCA, where she also served as Director of Aquatics, managing more than 50 lifeguards, swim instructors, and others.

She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips in 2001 at age 27, and told that she could no longer run at an elite level, thus ending her triathlon career and leading her to focus exclusively on cycling.

[6] At the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, Armstrong completed the biggest achievement of her career by winning the gold medal in the women's road time trial competition on August 13.

Finishing in under 35 minutes, Armstrong was 25 seconds ahead of silver medalist Emma Pooley from Great Britain, with Karin Thürig from Switzerland taking the bronze.

[13] In September 2012, Armstrong's Olympic gold medal-winning time trial bike was stolen while in transit between Germany and the USA.

[14] In April 2015, Armstrong announced that she would be coming out of retirement to race at the 2015 Pan American Road Championships in Leon, Mexico, having been selected by USA Cycling for the individual time trial.

[16] The following month, Armstrong won the United States National Time Trial Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee, beating Carmen Small by 13 seconds.