SERIOUS Question: Long Distances HIM/IM and Potty Stops (Page 4)

 You'll do well, no worries!

What hasn't been mentioned here is the psychological  factor.

Yes, I gotta pee lots when I ride and before a running race, if I don't go three or four times, before the start, I stress until I can get to the first on-course port-o-potty.

Of course I don't "really" need to pee that much, but something in my history and psychological make up clicks on and makes me think that if I don't go and go now, I won't be able to climb that hill, or keep my pace.

After all the training and preparation, many endurance athletes are more or less equally able to perform well (generalizing here, don't shoot me). What differentiates those who can get a top ten from the consistently BOPs is the ability to play the mental game and win.

That mental game goes beyond dealing with the pain and stress you may face in a race. It includes the basic biological functions we deal with every day and managing to suppress or at least control them without impacting performance.

This is the monkey on my back that I have to deal with. Now I'm going to go hose down my bike. 

I haven't read the whole thread so I'm sorry if this has been brought up already. 

Most of the time pit stops on the course can get you in trouble if you are not in a port a potty and a race official sees you so be careful.  On the run course at Racine HIM I ducked into a wooded spot and made a quick stop.  When I came out an official on a bike rode up next to me and said "705, I'm not going to officially penalize you but I could.  That's not cool, don't do it again."  At the time I couldn't have cared if it was a 1 hour penalty, I was hurting.  I had passed 4 port a potties that had lines outside of them and didn't want to wait that long.  On the bike there were never large enough gaps to pee without other people around.

I'm sure once you begin to let loose a gap would quickly develop.

I should have just let loose when my wheel broke down.  Nobody would have noticed.

What is the official penalty for public whizzing?  Or does each race have their own or is the official's call?

How did he "officially know" what you were doing? Maybe you just stopped for a doob break?

That rule only applies to Doobathlons. I heard about those events when I was in college. 

it could be your electrolytes are out of whack. kathyg mentioned it to me. since adding zymm tablets to my water i haven't been pee-ing like a crazy woman after exercise.  

It's not the actual peeing that is the problem.  As far as I know, there's no rule, per se, against going the bathroom during the race.  However, public nudity, or "indecent exposure" as it is defined in the rules, is prohibited.  So, if the race official saw his "doob," it doesn't matter whether he was going the bathroom or not.

No USAT rule against whizzing (sorry Laura). Or dumping for that matter (sorry Chris).

This is an actual instruction posted on the site of the tri I'm doing in August:

Once you have completed the swim, just after you exit the beach and head up the concrete path to the bike transition zone in the parking lot.  There will be two small wading pools to run through that you can rinse your feet off. There will be thick rubber mats in the bottom so you don’t slip. Next, there will be an optional wet suit stripping area. If you want someone to finish taking your wetsuit off (remember no nudity), just pull it down to your waist, then flop down on your back, stick your legs up in the air and they’ll pull it right off and hand it back to you. You think I’m kidding about the nudity but at Ironman Canada a couple years ago, a foreign racer didn’t realize what the wet suit strippers were doing, and surprise, surprise. Don’t let that be you.

From the way hangloose described the incident, it sounds like the official saw nothing except hangloose emerging from the woods with a relieved look on his face.

Exactly.  Well, he may have seen my back through the leaves in a stationary position for about 30 seconds but that's it.  So could he have been talking about an infraction for leaving the course or something like that?  OR was he just pulling my chain (pun intended)?

I find it hard to believe that you would SMELL someone's urine who peed in the water. As a scuba diver, I (and all of my dive buddies) have peed GALLONS and GALLONS and I've never smelled it in the water. EVER. Now, that aroma that clings to the wetsuit that's been hanging in the sun a few hours is a completely different story.

Additionally, unless you are in a pool, you are swimming in fish poop anyways, why be scared of  human fluids?

Sorry to take this back to [semi] solids, but just wanted to say that as a HS cross country coach for a few years, I saw lots of finishers whose pre-race jitters combined with extreme effort for 15 minutes had resulted in a blown gasket... and yes you smelled this kind of discharge at the finish!  God bless those kids - 3 state championship races and every year one of the top 20 finishers had a mess running down his leg.  And one young lady too).

Someone mentioned immodium.  Great for a 5K, but what is the physiological response of this wonder drug in terms of your ability to continue digesting/absorbing over time?  I've always assumed it kind of shuts down your digestive system for a bit, which would probably be worse than potty breaks in the long run.

PS - I'm game for the pee challenge.  I say record number of seconds spent urinating each day (I'm sure we all wear our training watches to work), with a points deduction for poor color (sorry over-supplementers).  Muhahahah... sounds like fun!

jashac - 2007-08-02 4:56 PM two and a half hour ride yesterday.  AND WHAT do you think is the only thing I could think about after reading this thread for three days? 

Lol! Yup, I thought of you all as I gave my bike the "golden shower" repeatedly on yesterday's rides. Sick, but true.

There is a fine line between necessity and fetish. 

Perhaps this is the REASON for the no-drafting rules?