Donating Blood

UncleFred

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but there seems to be the most experts in here.

I've just given blood. I have a race on Sunday morning. How will this affect my performance.

PS- I'm not getting mine or anyone elses blood back, I'm just an armful short.

Kléber

You will be slower, certainly. Some pros who dope use blood doping, taking the equivalent of a litre of blood onboard to give them a boost, you have given away the blood, the opposite.

Drink plenty and think about iron rich foods like beef, sardines, lentils etc. Well done for donating it but next time you might want to do it in the off-season.

UncleFred

No Choice on the donation front.

There's no blood bank over here, someone needed some blood. I'm on the list. I donated.

16oz steak and a pint of Guinness for me tonight!

iain_j

I'm a regular donor and I feel tired and low on energy for a day or two afterwards (I don't cycle on the day of the donation either) - but after that I'm back to normal.

Small price to pay for potentially saving someone's life

teagar

I had a look on the website, and I was shocked to see that they more or less discriminate against male homosexuals in that anyone who has had anal sex with another man is not allowed to donate blood.

No mention for anal sex with women.

Outrageous. No wonder some SU's don't co-operate with the national blood service.

http://www.blood.co.uk/pages/flash_questions.html

have a look yourself.

Bugly

teagar wrote:

I had a look on the website, and I was shocked to see that they more or less discriminate against male homosexuals in that anyone who has had anal sex with another man is not allowed to donate blood.

No mention for anal sex with women.

Outrageous. No wonder some SU's don't co-operate with the national blood service.

http://www.blood.co.uk/pages/flash_questions.html

have a look yourself.

Mate its not sexual discrimination its about health and safety and reducing risk factors for several nasty diseases. If I had a choice in the matter I would request to get MY blood back.

If you feel its discrimination then they also discriminate against people who spent more then a short time in africa, are taking medications, are currently sick etc.

teagar

What's the difference between anal sex with a women and with another man health wise then?

teagar

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 66813.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/un ... xuals.html

Bronzie

Has come up a few times in the "Training" section:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ight=blood
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ight=blood

Certainly your performance will be a bit below what it would have been. I also find I'm susecptible to getting more bugs after donating and take iron tablets for a few weeks after to try and restore the red cells lost.

UncleFred

Went for a ride this morning, just an easy ride after some quite big efforts of the previous 2 days.

I struggled up a hill that I can normally fly up and generally felt tired on the whole ride.

Race on Sunday should be interesting.

If I ever returned to the UK I wouldn't be able to donate as I have Lived in the Caribbean and have tattoos and piercings. I believe Canada won't accept blood from UK residents due to the VJCD risk other countries have different exemptions.

As we don't have a blood bank over here, and being O+ I get called quite often to donate.

They insist on a 3 month gap between donations, blood is tested for HIV, Hepatitis, Syphillis and a few other nasties before they take it.

If you are scheduled to have an operation you will be asked to arrange a standby donor and also to give some of your blood to be stored in case you need it.

Everybody has to have their blood type on the Drivers license so everybody know's what their blood type is. If you have a rare blood type it pays to make sure that if you find someone with the same type you become very good friends!!

e999sam

I've done a bit of reading on this subject because I'm a regular donor.
The volume loss is replaced in around 24 hrs but your red blood cells and other blood components take up to 8 weeks to be replaced. Studies have shown that for a sub maximal effort there is little loss in performance but at a maximal effort there is a 7% drop in performance.
It's recommended that competitive athletes do not donate blood but there is an alternative, which is platelet donation with this, the blood is taken from your body the platelets removed and then the blood returned to your body and because red blood cells are not removed there is no loss in performance.

jamieh5463

That's a load of BS they are not descriminating against gay people, the rules are there for a reason, and it's apparant you do not know theyre reasons.

Bronzie

e999sam wrote:

platelet donation

But not everyone's platelets are up to scratch for donation - mine failed the test when I had them checked :oops:

UncleFred

Update

Saturday - 60 Mile road road, easy pace including about 10 miles of strong headwinds and a short but steep 15% average clmb. Felt OK, but was dehydrated the whole ride despite drinking a lot of Nuun the night before and the morning of the ride. Struggled on the climb but got all the way up.

Sunday - 40 mile race, strong headwinds and rolling course. Sat in for the 1st 10 miles or so and then tried a couple of breaks, eventually got away from the pack with 3 others. Kept the break going but couldn't sustain the long efforts. Last 10 miles, got away again and ended in a 6 person sprint. Was cramping for the last 10 miles, and when I stood for the sprint I cramped badly. Again very dehydrated and felt as though I was at about 80% of how I normally feel in a race.

Conclusion.

There was a definite feeling of fatigue in both my Saturday ride and Sunday race. Hydration was also an issue, despite taking a lot of fluid since Donating I've felt thirsty the whole weekend and endurance definetly suffered.

Bronzie

Well done for giving it a good go in the race and of course for donating in the first place. Interesting to hear about the "blood buddy" system - it's so easy for us in the UK to take blood banking for granted and the readily available supply of it if you are unfortunate enough to need it.

Chaz.Harding

Personally I think it's shocking more people do not donate. It takes 30 mins (max!) if you book an appointment, 3-4 times a year. Wow. Big effort there... So what if your performance degrades a little, we're not a pro level here... We earn our money off the bike, and ride for health, fitness, fun, competetion, whatever.

I dunno, kids these day...

DavidBelcher

I've been a donor since I was old enough, so around 15 and a bit years' worth now, and have been racing on and off for the last nine of those. Never yet noticed any major fall-off in my form; as others have said, just after a donation the right amount of rest and the right food makes all the difference.

David