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Giving Blood?? How much of a negative effect on performance??

I like to regularly give blood, however I was advised against it while training over the summer for my first Tri. Now I’m into the winter training and I don’t have any serious competitions in the next 3 months (just X-country league with my running club) can I give blood without it seriously effecting my performance/training?? I have a theory... If I give blood and continue with the same amount of exercise, my body has to work harder and more efficiently to cope and therefore this makes me fitter in the long run. Although my performance may actually decrease in the short term... Does anyone have any thoughts?

Comments

  • Last time I gave blood I did the Race the Train 10k cross country 6 days later with no ill effects.



    I think it only takes a few days to a week for the blood to recover to normal levels.



    I don't know about your theory but I'd be inclined to give it a few days before getting the trainers out but you should be ok after that.
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    Essentially it should take a very short time to get your fluid balance back. It can take a few hours for the kidney to respond and produce more erythropoetin, which should result in some new blood cells after about 3-5 days, something like that! Trying to channel my 1st year biological molecules!
  • ardkeenardkeen Posts: 152
    If you give blood they take 1 unit which drops your haemoglobin by about 1g/dl. Normal range is about 12 -18. So if you have a starting Hb of 15g/dl, 1 unit reduces your O2 carrying capacity by 7%. So you must work harder until your red cells are replenished. Takes a few weeks. Obviously not the best thing to do if you have a race coming up that you want to perform well in.
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    This is one of the arguments for giving blood - you produce new rbc's and more of them after donating - incidently blood dopers do this and then reinfuse the original blood
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    treefrog wrote:


    This is one of the arguments for giving blood - you produce new rbc's and more of them after donating - incidently blood dopers do this and then reinfuse the original blood





    Seriously? Is this legal or not?
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    I think the other step in blood doping is to separate the blood you have taken out into RBCs and plasma, then just put the RBCs back in, so you don't increase blood volume by too much, but you do increase the oxygen carrying capacity by, what?, say 10-12%



    If you are elite you can expect to be tested for abnormally high RBC count, I think. It is not 'legal' in racing terms.



  • Jason NJason N Posts: 36
    all gains are short term though arent they. Your body adapts to its environment and realises it doesnt need the extra rbc`s and so doesnt make as many as it re-addresses the balance. Timing is therefore crucial.



    I also thought blood doping is a lazy way to altitude train though to be honest I`m not sure if you get more rbc or just quicker physiological adaptations (more capillaries etc). If you do get more rbc from altitude training how do the testers know you havent doped?



    (Are the bags of blood stored in your support vehicles with your name on them a give away!!)



    Either way, the only way to get fitter is to train more/harder/longer - There are no legal shortcuts,



  • RockieRockie Posts: 40
    When you give blood, don't train hard on the same day. It isn't safe. I'm not medically qualified to give this advice, just telling what I know from personal experience.



    Two days later is a different story, run as hard as you like, you won't feel the difference. Again from my experience.



    Disclaimer: your physiology may be different. Best way I guess is to ask the nurses. I'm sure they've answered the question before.
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    Rockie wrote:


    When you give blood, don't train hard on the same day. It isn't safe. I'm not medically qualified to give this advice, just telling what I know from personal experience.



    Two days later is a different story, run as hard as you like, you won't feel the difference. Again from my experience.



    Disclaimer: your physiology may be different. Best way I guess is to ask the nurses. I'm sure they've answered the question before.



    This is my experience pretty much. I'd probably avoid donating in the week of a race, but otherwise, just leave it a couple of days.



    Just because someone takes up triathlon, obviously this doesn't absolve them from social responsibility. Hopefully it never happens to anyone, but it you get knocked off your bike you might end up needing blood yourself.



    <Jules steps down from moral high ground and remembers he ducked his last donation session as he was busy. Where is the embarrassed smiley?>
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    Error!
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