Learning to pee in open water

emkhowley

Hi all! I'm looking for a great pee-related anecdote to open an article I'm writing about the importance of learning how to pee in open water if you're going for longer swims. Who's got a killer story for me about:

• how you learned to pee?
• consequences of not being comfortable peeing?
• how the cold impacts your ability to pee?
• Other pee-related anecdote/tips/pitfalls/etc.?

Comment below or hit me up on DM. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with other swimmers!
E

abbygirlrose

Not sure if this is specific enough, but I never learned how to pee while moving so I always warn my crew before a big swim that I will need slightly longer feed stops to relax enough to pee.

jendut

same @abbygirlrose quite a scene in my neighborhood when I walk across the street to the lake to swim and my spouse yells out the door "please practice peeing WHILE MOVING today, I don't want to miss the lunch AGAIN in Vermont!"

kejoyce

Last year i completed my longest swim to date, 21.6 miles. Generally i'm able to pee while moving, or at least do it while i'm feeding. nearly 12 hours into this swim i reach the boat launch that is the finish line and realized i hadn't peed since my last feed a ways back. knowing i had a boat ride back to my accommodations ahead of me, i beached myself on the boat launch in waist-deep water and peed one more time before i officially cleared the water. The water was in the low 60s so not freezing but it took a second to get things going. meanwhile my crew, who has been on a head-less pontoon all day and were also aching to use the restroom, were heckling me to get out and officially finish. my finish line video immortalizes me shouting to my small gathering of family and friends (and now the internet) that i will get out once i'm done peeing

Stephen

Thank you for raising the thread Elaine.

I struggle with this. I've not been able to crack peeing on the move so generally just go when I feed. Weirdly after about 8hrs even this becomes a challenge - I find myself swimming with an uncomfortably full bladder and become increasingly reluctant to take on fluids. It's somewhat tempered by the relief when I do go, but the only way I have found to manage this is to float with my face in the water and really try to divorce myself from my surroundings. Not encouraging for my crew, and wasn't helpful in the EC on the top of a spring!

I've got an NC attempt scheduled July 2022 and given the colder water I'm concerned that this could jeopardise the swim.

I do practice peeing on the go, and have had some success by closing my eyes and ceasing to kick, but not sure how I can meaningfully train for this.

Any advice much appreciated.

MLamby

I had trouble going on the move until I just stopped thinking about it. Luckily for me now, once I really have to go, I can just relax my lower stomach and just go. Maybe the reason people can't go on the move is that they are tensing their lower stomach area and just need to relax that? NOW, the OTHER potty issue is always a fun challenge the rare time that IT happens. LOL.

IronMike

how you learned to pee?
I would fill up the bladder significantly prior to an OW swim so that I had no choice but to have to pee. As for how I learned to pee horizontally (that's the difficult part), I learned that if I slow my kick (which is already only a 2-beat), basically letting my feet drag, I can start peeing, and once I start, I'm GTG.

consequences of not being comfortable peeing?
how the cold impacts your ability to pee?
These two are related, at least for me. During my first attempt at Lake Issyk Kul, the water was cold (for me) at 13.5C. I loaded up with water prior to the start, as usual. I can't remember when, but not too far into the swim (which I bailed on at 2:31) I had to pee bad. I couldn't. At a feeding (I think at 1:30) I stayed vertical thinking that way I could pee. I couldn't. I kept swimming. Two more feedings at 2:00 and 2:30, my crew asked if I'd peed yet and said no. The crew chief (the embassy doc) was growing concerned. As was I. I was extremely cold, colder than I should have been. I think in my last feed at 2:30 I didn't even drink anything. I couldn't stomach (bladder, actually) any more liquids. And I had uncontrollable shaking. A minute later I bailed. Within a few minutes on the boat, I peed forever. Then I threw up. After that I felt great and wished I could have jumped back in! Doc said most assuredly the cold had an effect on my ability to pee. (not pee)

Other pee-related anecdote/tips/pitfalls/etc.?
I still love Karah's (RD for Swim the Suck) advice for feeding stops, which she flashes up on the slides on the evening-before pasta party: Feed, Pee, Keep moving.

AnthonyMcCarley

Don't know if this counts as a funny story, but it made everyone on the boat laugh. Swimming from Anacapa. Was asked, for safety reasons, if I had been peeing. Being in a chatty mood, I answered, "Yes, in fact I'm peeing right now." Must have been timing or delivery... or that it was a mixed group on the boat and it seemed weird that I was peeing right in front of them. But everyone laughed.

Also, have learned to pee while swimming (not just during breaks). Slow the kick way down - to the point where my legs are completely relaxed... and let it flow... let it flow...

No idea if this was helpful...

gregorywannabe

Not a swimmer story, but .... My wife was in the support boat for a friend doing the Rottnest Channel Swim. Smallish boat with no toilet, just a bucket, or jump over the side. No matter what she tried she just couldn't pee. So some 8+ hours later when they arrived on shore she ran up the beach to the extremely crowded Rotto Pub yelling "out of my way, I haven't peed for 8 hours!" It was like Moses parting the Red Sea as she ran through to the toilet. Still gets a mention every year.

ColmBreathnach

As you know, the majority of swim practice / technique work is done in the pool. Peeing is no exception. However, I did get caught and yelled at by the lifeguard once. I got such a fright, I nearly fell in !

MvG

It's been a while since I last checked the forum, and this question is right up my alley and a joy to my adolescent mind.
I think I am naturally gifted at peeing in the water, never had any problems with it either in warm or cold water. Peeing in cold water is pure bliss btw, a real morale booster.