Most of us triathletes have a lot of slow twitch muscle fibers, but not as many fast twitch fibers. So when we have that pounding force on our pelvic floor, or that stress on our pelvic floor, our fast twitch fibers are not coordinating quickly enough to close off the urinary outlet (the urethral sphincter), leading to peeing our pants.

The pelvic floor muscles also help with bowel control. Sometimes when our muscles aren’t strong enough we will have fecal leakage or even constipation.

Urge Urinary Incontinence (UUI) is described as a sudden and often frequent, urgent sensation to have to use the bathroom. This may result in leakage suddenly and/or on the way to the restroom. One major reason this is happening is because the pelvic floor muscles may not be quite strong enough and not coordinating quickly enough, thus leading to urgency, frequency, and leakage.