Blood Donation?

[[old] Terry S]

The 200K Holiday Challenge seems to be close to my endurance ceiling given my current level of fitness. I want very much to donate blood this week in light of the shortages which occur around the holidays each year.<br /><br />I'm a newbie at donation, however. I understand it's without noticeable effect on day to day activties. I'm worried the extra load of my HC erging may be a different story. I'd welcome any comments on what I might reasonably expect in the way of impact on my HC efforts. If I should expect some, would an extra day off help? Anything else? <br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />TS

[[old] Ray79]

I donate blood fairly regularly and have never really found it to interfere with my training. Generally I just do what training i have planned in the morning before I donate and then take it easy for the rest of the day, have a good dinner, drink plenty of fluids and eat some biscuits .<br />The blood transfusion service will be the best people to advise you but usually about a day or so afterwards you should be fine. When I have donated recently it has been on a friday afternoon and then I have had a 12-15km session on the water on saturday morning without any ill effects.<br /><br />But thats me, and im still young. Everyone is different and it is best to listen to your body. If you take a day off, and still dont feel right then stop and give it another day or so.<br />Blood plasma is replaced fairly quickly, red cells take longer. And the body is amazingly resiliant to losing some blood so really you should be fine.<br /><br />Still best to ask the transfusion service when you go to donate.

[[old] afolpe]

As noted above, I think you should be fine, assuming you are otherwise in good health. If you have any kind of cardiac history, you probably ought to check with your treating MD, to be on the safe side. I would suggest keeping the pace very mellow, and just try to get the meters you need to stay on track for the HC. Drink a lot, and take breaks if you need to. <br /><br />And thanks a lot for donating blood!!<br /><br />Andrew

[[old] Jim Barry]

I'm usually off a few seconds per 500m for about 10 days after giving blood. Your body is down on the oxygen carrying red blood cells after giving blood and it takes a number of days to rebuild your blood back to order.

[[old] Afterburner]

I'm with Jim on this one. I used to donate blood fairly regularly and always noticed that I just couldn't hold the same splits on the erg for generally at least a week afterwards. (Hence why I don't donate anymore)<br />I also did apheresis(sp?) and found that that did not have as bad of an impact. It's a nice alternative if you have the time and patience for it. Still leaves you with the warm fuzzies about having done something good. <br /><br />Heather

[[old] Carl Henrik]

Everyone in my beginners group was making steady improvements on the weekly 4x1k. One guy failed to do so one week. It turned out he had done a blood donation, I think it was the day before. He's back on track now though with a solid increase of 8w from last time.

[[old] afolpe]

Everyone should of course make their own decisions based on their own needs, beliefs, etc, but one could legitimately make the argument that having one or two (or even 3) suboptimal workouts is pretty well balanced out by the possibility of your blood donation saving a life.<br /><br />Just a thought.<br /><br />Andrew

[[old] ljwagner]

You can donate a maximum 6 times a year, barring doing so around competition. I acquired Hep B through unknown means, and was informed by the Red Cross. I haven't been able to donate for 15 years, stopped at 38 pints. <br /><br />Target 4 times a year, and hit a century in 25 years or less. If you're really healthy, they split your pint to 4 mini units, and use them for newborns. Have a heart.