I’m doing my first half IM soon. I know I’m going to need to urinate at least twice maybe more.
What’s the deal. I have read a few threads on this site that suggest you piss your pants and then splash a bit of water around. I don’t have a problem with that.
Is it acceptable to pull off the road and do you buiness, esp on the run?
Should I expect portable bathrooms on the course?
It seems to me bottling it up is going to be a BIG inhbiter of performance
I am assuming nerves will take care of the rear end!
I just can’t piss in my pants. It took me years to stop wetting the bed, and years of therapy thereafter. Just seems like a step in the wrong direction to me. Maybe if I was close to qualifying for a Kona slot I’d do it. But I’m just an MOPer.
I’ve pulled off the side (far enough so as to not embarass the other competitors) during the run before. Did it last year at the GCT in the park. No one seemed to care…
I’ve done A LOT of races. I usually don’t have to go during the bike on a 1/2 IM. Run is no prob - just duck behind a tree.
When I do need to pee on the bike (IM) I do stop. I try to do this strategically at the top of a little incline so that I don’t lose precious momentum, and so I get it back again easily. Then, try to be as discrete as possible w/o out having to get off the bike ie just stand down. Sometimes I act like I am checking a tire or something. I just don’t think 10 seconds is worth peeing on myself, or someone else.
If I have to go on the bike, then I just go on the bike. I try to make sure there’s nobody behind me so as not to be rude. The approach I take is just “wetting my shorts”, I don’t try to aim or anything. Then as you said, wash off with a little water. The trick is keeping it out of my shoes. Dan has an article around here somewhere on the art of on the bike evacuation.
I roomed at IM USA with a woman whose stated goal in the IM (her 8th) was to pee whilst riding the bike. She passed me on the second loop of the bike, whooping and hollering, “I did it! I peed!” I thought this was all a little over the top until I found her after the finish with her big smile – and her Kona qualifying spot.
She later told me her real goals: Be sure to drink enough that she had to pee; and be relaxed enough on the bike to just let it flow. It worked, and she went to Kona. She got the last spot by two minutes, so stopping at a porta potty might have cost her the spot.
Hey PGPG, Well, this is how I do it. I learned racing bicycles in Europe. I grip the handlebars as close to the stem as is possible and make sure I am not around anyone I can plow into or pee on accidentally. Also, in an event, don’t do it near spectators. Gives the sport a bad name. Anyway: I grab the bars near the stem and sit more upright, pull your dick over the top of your tri shorts or out the top of your unzipped 1 piece suit (hopefully the darn zipper goes low enough). You can kind of stand forward on the pedals and just coast along peeing, not giving up any time. Be careful though, watch where you’re going and don’t pee on top of your water bottle. You’ll want to practice this in advance where motorists can’t see you. Word: If a cop sees you, you will be pulled over and you will have explaining to do and it is embarrasing. As for the run, heck, I can pee while running a 6:30 mile without breaking stride, but it isn’t quite so elegant.
So what was the technique she used? I’m curious about how a woman would do it vs a man. Although I think porta-potty stops are in my ironman future.
I was behind a guy who was peeing in my half ironman last year. At first I thought that he must have been one of the ironman distance racers who just came out of the water, because he was still dripping wet. (It was just past the transition area of the second loop on the bike.) Then I thought his water bottle was leaking. Then I realized what was really happening! I dropped back a little at that point.
I heard from my coach that there were these two elites (they were twins) and when they were younger they’d poop and just pull it out with their hands. I didn’t think this was true but their coach confirmed it, and he was proud of it too =\
