Giving Blood / Training

Fen Grinder

Hi All, Here's one for you all to ponder. I'm a keen sportive rider, no racer, just inquisitive.

I regulary give blood (being both a motorcylcist and a 'roadie' you never know when you might need it back!) The other day i gave blood in the afternoon. Had a full dinner that evening a good nights sleep and breakfast the next day before starting an hour long session on the rollers. It wasn't a particulary hard session, warm-up followed by about 12miles at about 75% max (22.5-25mph) I felt absolutely dog ruff. I can only put it down to the giving of blood the day previously.
My question is - Does giving blood effect performance, how much, why and how long does it take for the body to replenish?

Cheers All,
Fen Grinder

SBezza

Yes it will affect performance, your blood volume is replensished pretty quickly with plasma, but your red blood count will be a fair bit lower. It can take up to 6 weeks for the red blood cells to be replaced fully, though I suspect a noticeable drop in performance would only be apparent for a couple of days to a week.

keef66

Of course it affects performance. What you are doing is effectively blood doping but in reverse! As stated above, you replace the lost plasma volume pretty quickly, but the other components can take quite a while.

(I'm taking a rest from blood donation ATM cos I've been diagnosed as anaemic and put on iron tablets)

Murr X

It will take significantly more than one week to regain performance and there is nothing (reasonable) that can speed that process up. I had a friend who would give blood sometimes as often as every 8 weeks or so and although he would feel perfectly fine doing general tasks it always took over a month to regain cycling performance according to the SRM. RBC's take several weeks to develop and like I mentioned this process can not be sped up no matter who you are, though you may feel OK and be OK (even during cycling) the power will be reduced measurably.

I applaud you for giving blood and I wish more would do it.

Murr X

roddixon

On another note, if you want a cheap night out give blood that afternoon. I tried this once and was bladdered after 2 pints, result :P

islwyn

Feel sick.

LikeUStoleIt

as everyone has said, donating whole blood can leave you struggling for a fair few days.

i give platelets rather than whole blood, and the procedure they use means that you only lose about 50mls of red blood cells, and most of your serum gets washed back into you at the end, so you don't even lose too much fluid.

as a result, i find that i can train almost totally normally on a donation day, so maybe its worth asking if you can switch to giving platelets, perhaps?

Mr Dog

A bit OP, but I once ran for a bus after giving blood.. I remember getting on......then............