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Ah, I filled mine and posted them (this was for health/performance testing not Covid).
I would run fingers under warm tap too in the kitchen before stabbing commenced. You're not supposed to squeeze the finger or you damage the blood but you can kind of massage the length of your finger to encourage flow (gross but you should see my in action).
hippy
Water is allowed, and they advise washing hands in warm water for 30 seconds to promote blood flow.
The problem with any of the rest of that plan (having a shower/etc) is that there's someone waiting on the doorstep for the blood sample. The swab for the PCR test takes less than a minute, but it was somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes to do the finger prick and get the amount they require (0.25ml to 0.5ml) which is a good 5 big drops of blood from a small lancet hole, and you're not allowed to squeeze the finger.
I think I'll have a bowl of really warm water to dip my hand in (but not the spiked finger) next time.