nutt

So I donated 500mL of whole blood last Thursday. I had ridden that morning, and donated at about 1pm. I took Friday off, to recover, then rode 30 miles on Saturday, including some hills. I thought I was going to die. I felt like I could not breathe. I was not surprised, but I did not remember it being so bad when I donated in the past. Sunday, I rode 40 miles with less climbing and it felt better. Today I rode about 30 miles with a lot of climbing and I felt pretty close to normal. I just thought I would share in case anybody is interested in my experience or wanted to share theirs.

Oh, and BTW this experience really makes it apparent why blood doping, EPO, etc. give such a huge advantage. If taking red cells away made me suffer that much, I can only imagine what adding extra cells could do. I am curious if any of you have experienced that, maybe due to living at altitude then riding at low elevation, or sleeping in a pressure chamber etc. Do you notice a big benefit?

stonecrd

Plasma replacement is 2-3 days, red cells take around 30 days to replenish

jasandalb

after you give blood.... just go home and slam down a couple of beers.....you'll feel great after that!!!

GP

The only time I did any sort of testing after giving blood was several years ago when I volunteered to man a RAAM station at the base of a mountain. On Tuesday I got there early and rode to the top. On Wednesday I gave blood at 4:30 pm. On Thursday at 10 am I did the same ride and was a minute and a half slower. I think it was because my sunglasses fell off my helmet and I had to stop and pick them up.

DiabloScott

I donate double reds - the hematocrit equivalent to two units of whole blood. Before you can donate, they take your HTC and test your iron, and one time I asked the lady how much the HTC would drop after a donation and she agreed to take a before and after reading. Dropped from 43 to 37. I was surprised I was only 43 to start with because my physicals usually had higher values, but there it is. Minimum to donate whole blood is about 38, and I think it's 41 for double reds. Anyway, a six point drop is really noticeable.

First week after donation: I feel fine, but immediately go anaerobic on even a little stop light sprint.

Second week after donation: Do fine on extended efforts, but the anaerobic threshold is still noticeably lower than it should be, and it takes longer to catch my breath afterwards.

Third week after donation: Still some lingering effects, but a not too hilly century is manageable.

Four weeks: back to normal.

Probably speed that up for whole blood donation.

merlinextraligh

^ this is why autologous blood doping is not very effective. The lost ability to train in that period, offstes the advantage you get from putting the blood back.

Now if you can boost your HTC to about 54, out of competition, with EPO, take out a few units, clean the blood, raise your HTC back with EPO well before you're in competition again, then you've got a business model (ala Dr Fuentes).

But without the EPO, it doesn't work very well.

badhat

yeah i learned this the hard way early this season by donating a weeek before my first TT of the season. it wasnt any more painful that normal but i sucked hard.

caloso

This is why I donate platelets. They only take a couple of small testing vials of whole blood.