Valdese Triathlon 2010

Amy competed in our hometown triathlon Saturday for the second year in succession. Hoping to improve on her time from last year, and with a goal of placing in her age group, she arrived at the pool Saturday morning with no shoulder dislocations, collarbone breaks, sinus infections (mostly), colds, mechanical problems, etc. Amy was coming off a second-place finish at Wednesday's Ring of Fire in Asheville (finishing ahead of your truly), so the snap had returned to her legs at just the right time. The unseasonably warm April morning set the stage for a good day for competition, further raising the odds that Amy would meet her goals for year.

One cannot go fast without first looking good. Amy prepares her SpokesWomen Syndicate/Performance Bicycle Racing kit for the biking/running leg. Her dominant women's racing team has two professional triathletes on the roster, giving it a multi-sport flavor.

Amy's band students felt that she should paint her nails black for the tri, so black they were.

Pushing off at the start of the swimming leg.

Able to use both arms this year, Amy took 1 minute, 34 seconds off of her 2009 swim time, finishing the 250m, 10-lap leg in 6minutes, 12 seconds.

Leaving the rain-forest climate of Valdese's indoor pool, Amy was glad to be heading to the transition area in upper-60s temperatures, instead of last year's upper-40s.


The 9-mile bike leg skirts the base of the eastern-most section of the South Mountains, making it a loop of endless short, steep hills.

Heading in to the transition area after completing the bike leg in 31 minutes, 46 seconds, the 4th-best time among the 83 females competitors, and nearly 3-minutes faster than last year.

Two legs down and one to go, Amy sets out for the run.

Amy completes the 5k running leg in 24 minutes, 59 seconds, the 11th-fastest female time. She trimmed 14 seconds off from 2009.

The photo says it all! Consistent improvement in all three disciplines netted Amy an overall time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 23 seconds. In addition, she met both of her goals, finishing 3rd in the female 30-34 division and improving on her 2009 time by 6 minutes, 31 seconds. Her time placed her 11th overall among all 83 female finishers, an jump from her 2009 placing of 18th. I enjoyed not getting my heart rate anywhere near its maximum training threshold and working out only my camera shutter-finger.

We'll be heading down to Athens, Ga next weekend for the Athens Twilight race weekend, a big date on the national race calendar.