Donating Blood and Your Training
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Iron Man posted 1 year ago.
I'm a donor, i was asking people about this when i was last there. To make up the volume of blood lost is not an issue i think it only takes a few days. The issue i that it takes a month or so to build up the nutrients and iron etc that you loose. i.e. you get the blood back fast but the quality is poor so you need to take it easy while this happens. do it in a rest week or a time when you will only be working aerobically, not anaerobic.
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jeslol posted 1 year ago.
When I tried to donate during the season, it set me back almost a month in fitness. I found it just wasn't worth it. On the flip side, when I try to donate at the end of the season, my iron resources are pretty depleted and I often don't have enough iron to donate.
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chavi posted 1 year ago.
Ive been wanting to donate blood for some time. However, I am border-line anaemia. Should I still donate? I train hard and need a whole day to recover from one session maybe two. It would probably knock me around if I did and I cant imagine they would want my blood anyway because it is so low in iron.
What do you think?
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jmruns430 posted 1 year ago.
Blood banks will (or at least they are supposed to) check your Iron by a pin prick blood test before they let you donate. If it's too low they'll send you home.
If you do want to donate try to think of an easy week, where you aren't already too worn out and you still have a few days to recover. I think everyone reacts differently but if you're training really hard now, it may not be the best time.
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dr_rios_ec posted 1 year ago.
Guys...donating blood as athletes, is now a reason at all to feel like a month behind in fitness...there is no way...
Is good to take that day off, that is for sure, but the human body compensates in about 48 hours....
Besides, I think is good to give one day of our precious trainning to save 3 to 4 lives....
Here is an page that might give you better understanding
http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$448
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bogornes posted 1 year ago.
I donate platelets exclusively (once per month). It takes at most a few days to recover 100% (I usually don't even notice any decline). Whole blood will knock you back several weeks until you regenerate the red blood cells. I have been training for one year, but was rejected as a donor several months ago due to a low iron count for the first time. I found out that exercise-induced anemia is pretty common. Now I take extra iron and am donating as before.
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bluebirdbiker posted 1 year ago.
Been there, done that. I find that it drains me alot for 2-3 days, especially when I am doing 2-3 hrs workout/day. It's a setback during serious training times. The regular for me is to donate 3-4 times a year. In fact they called me up about a month ago asking if I would give (they were in the area), but I declined cause I cannot afford it w IMAZ coming down the tubes. I do agree w the doc though. It is worth it outside of "active" training times.
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dr_rios_ec posted 1 year ago.
bogornes;60762 wrote:
Whole blood will knock you back several weeks until you regenerate the red blood cells.
Several weeks...mmmmm, is there any evidence to support that...??? Unless you donate blood being terribly anemic...being that imposible, because the will check your hematocrit before donating. I would like to know how got you knocked back that long....;)
-Santiago
"Man!! Defeat is worse than dying, cause´you have to live with it" -My Dad
"It ain´t about how hard you can hit...it is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"-Rocky Balboa
So i was down at the blood center donating blood over lunch today and was thinking about how this affects your training/racing/performance/etc. right now i'm in prep phase and far out from any races. i took today off and plan on going light for tomorrow and friday, then back to my plan.
i understand the obvious implications, less blood means you can car less O2 to your system, your plasma level is lower, etc. how should one time blood donations during the season? i would think you would not want to do it on any of your hard weeks (of the week before a hard week), probably not within a week or so of an A race, depending distance. but i wonder if one should avoid donating blood too soon after a race. how would this affect recovery? they say now exertion for 2 days after you donate. with many triathletes we exert ourselves every day for months.
is the answer that you should not donate blood at all during season?
sorry if this post is nothing but questions, but i had some time to sit and think while i was donating. Smile
thoughts? comments?