Back Mountain Triathlon Personal Stories: Counting on a successful competition

By Dave Bass Special to Times Leader

Colleen Hosey Lumia competed in her first triathlon at age 52.

Colleen Hosey Lumia must have had triathlon in her blood this whole time and didn’t even know it.

Three of her brothers did the very first Wilkes-Barre Triathlon. Her brother Rich Hosey (who passed away in 2014) participated 25 years in a row. Brothers Vince and Brian have also competed. Her cousin Sam Piccolotti, who left the area for Colorado years back, was also a regular competitor.

Although Colleen kept active and went to regular torture sessions at Leslie McCann’s gym, for spin class and other group training, triathlon didn’t really cross her mind as something she wanted to do herself. She was busy raising a family, building a business and just living a normal life.

When she was young Colleen was very athletic. She rode horses competitively and did gymnastics, later coaching young people in both disciplines.

She pointed to some similarities between being an equestrian and a cyclist.

In some ways the bike is like a horse — you’re sitting on it, the “ride” is between your legs, and you sit on a saddle. High end TT bikes are like thoroughbreds in that they can be a bit “twitchy.” Riding horses made her legs extremely strong and got her comfortable moving at high speeds while off the ground. Colleen made the transition between sports look easier than most; when she is in aero on her Specialized Shiv, she loves to cruise at high speed and pass much of the “herd.”

Later on she met cyclist and triathlete Paul Lumia at an Around Town Bike ride, and they grew close over many dates and many miles together.

The ride they met on was a classic — the ATB Southern route, Nanticoke, Cocoa Hut, Vandermark, Route 11. Their first date was at Sabatini’s on a Thursday night. Paul couldn’t go on Wednesday. He had the Wednesday Night Lake Ride of course. She told me that her “happy place is riding behind him.”

Paul, former executive director of North Branch Land Trust, is an accomplished triathlete and cyclist in his own right (and not a bad fly fisherman either). They spend a lot of time on two wheels, alone together or with their large circle of friends. Colleen’s family has grown — today she has three children, four step-children and six grandchildren.

Colleen came to triathlon much later in life than most people. After having been aware of triathlon for years, Colleen finally decided to try the sport herself at age 52. At that age, most people aren’t interested in new hobbies or new friends.

Most people are pretty well settled and comfortable and not looking to learn three new sports and how to embrace discomfort. Colleen did.

She did her first Wilkes-Barre Triathlon in 2013 at age 53, and then did two more in 2014 and 2015. Over the next decade, she qualified for Ironman 70.3 World Championships three times. She went twice – to Zell am See, Austria, and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Colleen said of her success later in life at the sport, “I preserved my body. I didn’t beat it up when I was young.”

Her first coach Mary Stella said, “When I met Colleen I could sense she was a person who was committed to reaching her objectives. She is a talented cyclist, but she also has a side to her personality where she acquires the abilities she needs to reach her goals. Having started triathlon later in life she should be an inspiration to many women with what she has achieved.”

Those of you who know Colleen know that she doesn’t really like to swim and she loves to do things last minute.

Maybe she doesn’t love to do it like that, but she just can’t help herself. So for her first WB Triathlon, Colleen bought her wetsuit the day before the race. The first time she wore it was in the race.

Out in the water that day she remembers seeing former Bishop O’Reilly classmate Denise Thomas. Once she got on the bike she felt a whole lot more comfortable, and by the time she got to Huntsville Dam she felt great. That’s where she saw her daughter, Caitlin Weaver, with the grandkids cheering her on. She finished her first tri that day, and like a lot of triathletes she couldn’t wait to do it again.

The following year (2014), she won her age group at Wilkes-Barre. She also tried her first Ironman 70.3 that year in Syracuse. She ended up competing in Syracuse a total of three times between 2014 and 2017. She did plenty of other 70.3 distance races too, in Austin, Texas, and recently in Penn State at the inaugural PA Happy Valley Ironman 70.3.

Her most memorable moment in a 70.3 was on the Chattanooga run course. It was September 2017. After a long summer of training and racing, she just felt super strong. She got off the bike after riding for 56 hilly miles and laid down a sub 8-minute mile. She just felt so good to be that strong that deep into her big race.

When Colleen is riding, she likes to count pedal revolutions. Sometimes when she is running, she likes to count steps. When she is swimming. she likes to count strokes. Actually Colleen loves to count all the time.

When I asked her about this, she explains how counting helps settle the mind and take your focus away from the pain or the task at hand.

If you have ever ridden around the Back Mountain, you might have noticed that there is a Strava segment called 20 Strokes on the Right/20 Strokes on the Left. Colleen named it.

Sometimes when she is climbing a difficult incline and suffering, Colleen will put her head down, take 20 pedal strokes on the right, 20 pedal strokes on the left, and then raise her head and look up to see the progress she has made on the hill.

Distraction has long been acknowledged as a method to relieve pain, and counting is a known method of distracting the mind. So it is logical that Colleen’s counting method would work to distract her mind from the immediate pain of the race or the workout.

Her other connection to counting is simple.

Colleen is a certified public accountant, and her former business Physicians Practice Management had her pretty involved with numbers on a daily basis.

Jackie Kotch, Colleen’s former business partner at Physicians Practice Management said, “I’ve always admired Colleen for her ability to put her head down and perform when she is training or racing. She has always been good at the endurance part that is needed for the longer distance of triathlons. She is able to experience pain and suffering in silence, she does it with a slight smile on her face.”

Colleen is Irish-Catholic, so as she reminded me “suffering is in my blood. I love to suffer.”

Piccolotti, a legendary triathlete, founder of NZD (No Zero Days) and also the race director and founder of the highest Ironman in the world — the Mountain Man Invitational in Leadville, Colo. — said, “The entire Hosey family have been talented athletes. Colleen was an equestrian in college and admirably seemed to put family and career in front of personal athletic interests for many years. However when she entered the world of triathlon, she went at it like she has everything else in her life, with a relentless spirit and discipline. Don’t ever count her out!”

When Colleen was at World Championships for Ironman 70.3 in Chattanooga, she was assigned to a spot in transition next to a tiny woman from Slovenia. The woman didn’t know how to speak English, but she also didn’t seem to know which stickers to put on her helmet and bike, or where to go. Colleen graciously helped her with everything. She’s just a kind person like that.

That woman was Natasa Nakrst. She ended up winning their age group that day. She went home to Slovenia as a hero. Nakrst met Slovenia’s President Borut Pahor. They had a parade for her in her hometown. She posted a picture of her experience on Facebook.

The picture was of her and Colleen after the race, smiling together.

Colleen met her current coach Mary Duprey at Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Austria. But she remembers seeing her earlier, during Ironman Syracuse the previous June. There was a huge storm in Syracuse that year and she remembered seeing this smiling, gray haired woman flying up the hill on the run course. She actually looked her up on Facebook and found out that she had qualified for Worlds too.

Later that year in Austria at Worlds, Mary Duprey walked right past their table at dinner. They started chatting and realized they were in adjoining rooms in the hotel. Before the race, Mary invited Colleen to join her in the shade, where she patiently walked Colleen through the race course and helped her visualize a plan for the day. Colleen knew that day she wanted Mary to be her coach. They have been together for six years now, and Colleen still speaks of her with an enormous amount of respect.

When I asked Colleen what she was most looking forward to about the return of triathlon to the Back Mountain, without hesitation she said, “seeing all the people!” The triathlon community is an incredibly welcoming group of people, and in most cases, they want you to be your best.

After Colleen’s first ever swim at the Catholic Youth Center with then coach Mary Stella, Stella told her, “Welcome to your people.”

Colleen is planning to race at Back Mountain this year, so I asked her if triathlon had affected her life in a positive way. She said that she met her husband, Paul Lumia, because of triathlon. She made a lot of great friends through the sport. She remembers the great community around the old Strive shop at Harveys Lake and misses that community and camaraderie.

She is hopeful that the return of the Back Mountain Triathlon will do a lot to reignite that sense of community and inspire the next generation of athletes.