JoeOxfordCT

I have a metric century on Sunday and I just noticed a Bloodmobile sign here at work for Thursday.

How much, if any, affect will giving blood have ???

Just curious....

botto 

haven't donated blood in years, and don''t think i actually can in the US because i lived in the UK during the BSE crisis, but i had a friend who used to it and raced afterwards.

I would assume there's some small loss in performance, but a metric century is 1. short, and 2. not a race, so there's no need to 'perform'.

alanbikehouston

Yes.

By the way, when I give blood, they warn me not to drink alcohol afterwards. I was curious as to whether that warning was necessary, so went home and drank one beer. The most relaxing afternoon I've had for ages... But DON'T do it...it wouldn't be prudent.

JoeOxfordCT

I agree....I just don't want to turn a comfortable ride into something more....at least not without being prepared..

urbanknight

^ It's probably just because you have less blood so you get drunk faster. Of course, in the safety of your own home with less blood is the cheapest way to get drunk!

JoeOxfordCT

I was giving blood fairly regularly for awhile until a vacation in Mexico kicked me out of being a donor for a year......I was considered a malaria risk....

So this would be the first time in about 16 months.....
I think I should be ok....

Grasschopper

It for sure will impact you...just ask Tyler Hamilton.

urbanknight

It's different if you're putting the blood back into you.

Grasschopper

Yea but if you saw the documents they have on Tyler from Operation Puerto it shows VERY direct corelation between several of the blood withdrawls (for later injection) and poor performances in races.

kenny!

Last time I gave blood I did my daily run a few hours afterwards. I felt alittle weak but that coulda been psychological. While giving the blood I did ask one of the nurses about working out that day and they couldn't really give me a straight answer but were pretty sure I should avoid lifting since I could seriously hurt myself if I passed out and dropped weights on my noggin.

Curiously, after giving blood I start to laught and can't stop. It's kinda fun.

And a little story. A few years ago my brother in law donated blood and while he was driving home afterwards he passed out and had an accident. He was charged with wreckless driving and had to obtain a lawyer since it could have cost him his CDL and subsequently his job. The judge reduced the charge but didn't throw it out.

Psydotek

You should avoid lifting heavy objects mostly because they don't want you to hurt yourself in your slightly weakened state. Also you don't wanna pop open the hole where the needle was after it's already clotted.

You'll just be out of breath alot faster even with a relatively gentle pace.

I've donated alot of times in the last 3-4 years and it usually takes a good 2 weeks to feel "normal" again and about a month to get back to full strength, well for me anyways. Technically they want you to wait 56 days between donations which i figure is the average time needed to get back to full strength. (i once tried climbing the stairs at work immediately after donating, 16 stories, and holy crap i was dying at the top...)

I have yet to donate this year though since i started to do triathlons, um, this year... Everytime the bloodmobile would show up here at work i'd already be deep in training for an upcoming triathlon and didn't want to hurt my performance.

rknj

When I gave blood in college I always knew my bar tab would be a lot lower than usual.. except for the first time, learned that replacing a pint of blood with many pints of beer is a quick way to a blackout.

SSP

When you donate whole blood, you're reducing your red blood cells by about 10%. It takes 2-4 weeks for your body to replenish the lost cells. During that time, aerobic performance will be somewhat compromised.

Unless your metric is a hammerfest, or very hilly, you should be OK...just don't expect to be pulling the pack at 28 mph.

brunning

it'll take you around 4 weeks to completely regenerate that pint of blood. the average person has 10 pints of blood which is bringing oxygen to organs, ridding the body of carbon dioxide and all sorts of other stuff. you'll be putting yourself at a disadvantage if you give blood.