blood donation

When I would donate blood I would notice a pretty significant performance drop off for about a week or two, for about month my legs would feel a bit more heavy but I'd be closer to my normal race times, the second month or so I'd be back to normal.

After the first year of doing it and tanking a couple races, I kind of figured out how to time donations so they were right after the season so I'd be pretty much recovered for any important races. Maybe only donated ~4-5 times per year instead of the 6 if you did it as often as possible, but for me this was a reasonable alternative.

I would definitely not do double red cell, I felt lethargic going up stairs for 2 months after than and my easy pace would drop from low 7's to mid 8's for a while before slowly climbing back up.

I'm 50+ (age, not mileage). Donated blood on Saturday, third time this year. I ran 6 miles on Sunday, easy pace. Shouldn't be a problem if 1) she has sufficient iron - a typical problem with high school girls; and 2) she eats well and hydrates well both before and after donating. Blood donations are desperately needed now. Donating is literally a good way of giving. However, I am not a doctor. If you have real concerns, consult her doctor, not the LetsRun commentators.

Good point!!

You don't have any say at all over who your blood will be transfused with. What if that patient has something infectious?

the danger wrote:

You don't have any say at all over who your blood will be transfused with. What if that patient has something infectious?

WTF? Do you have any idea how blood donation works? Why would it matter if the recipient had something infectious?

Ahead of the Curve is BEHIND the Curve again... Nothing unusual!

I give platelets as opposed to whole blood period that will result in a bit of volume loss, but should not affect aerobic capacity for more than a day or two. Platelets are highly valuable, although you tend to need to go to a major medical centre to donate them. You can donate as often as once every two weeks. As part of the process your blood cycles into the platelet collecting system and then back into you multiple times over about 90 minutes. They use a chemical called citrate From coagulating in the mechanism. Citrate Binds calcium. This can result in low calcium in the blood. Low calcium in the blood can result in muscle spasms, particularly in the jar which is extremely uncomfortable. I have purchased my own calcium citrate supplement pills. I take three before donating and a couple during the donation. Also the blood cools off when it leaves the body, so it can be useful to have some blankets. I know this sounds complicated, but it comes down to this: one) donate platelets 2) take three say calcium citrate pills before donation and 2 during donation 3) ask the staff to bring a blanket earlier on 4) run in the upcoming days without consequence.

Sorry, I missed this in editing. Citrate prevents the blood from coagulating in the mechanism.

Sham 69 wrote:

Ahead of the Curve is BEHIND the Curve again... Nothing unusual!

Honestly, please explain it to me then... because you definitely have never donated blood and have zero idea how it works. I'm like 99% sure you are just some troll because otherwise its almost comically tragic how little you understand some simple things.

Depending on blood type she could also donate plasma, which again can get back to normal in basically a day with proper hydration. I don’t have the correct blood type though, so I’ve never done it and can’t relate my personal experience.

Both of you are unhinged. Settle down. Donating blood is noble and tremendously helps others. It's ok if she waits until after her competitive season is over before doing so. Blood banks are at an all time low right now.

Scientific Observer wrote:

Both of you are unhinged. Settle down. Donating blood is noble and tremendously helps others. It's ok if she waits until after her competitive season is over before doing so. Blood banks are at an all time low right now.

Thanks for reading!

For those who haven't donated blood before, you do not typically come anywhere near the person you are donating blood to. You go to some medical office space, fill out a survey, they test to make sure you have no issues and are healthy enough to donate.

Assuming you pass, they'll take a single use kit to draw a specified amount of your blood (into a bag) which they will then refrigerate and store/distribute to hospitals for use as needed. If they have excess that approaches it's end date, they will generally sell that supply to research institutes.

At no point will you know who or when your blood is given to someone else. Any issues the person receiving your blood may or may not have will not affect you in any way because it's generally days between when your blood is donated and used and you may never be within 100 miles of the person getting your blood so the risk of you catching anything infections from the recipient is pretty low.

Scientific Observer wrote:

Both of you are unhinged. Settle down. Donating blood is noble and tremendously helps others. It's ok if she waits until after her competitive season is over before doing so. Blood banks are at an all time low right now.

I certainly don’t want to imply that anyone is obligated to donate blood, but I Hope that I was clear that donating plasma or platelets should not impact training to any significant degree

Ahead of the Curve wrote:

I'm like 99% sure you are just some troll because otherwise its almost comically tragic how little you understand some simple things.

That kind of hurt my feelings.

Scientific Observer wrote:

Blood banks are at an all time low right now.

I've donated at my work for the last 7 years and at no point have they ever mentioned "blood banks are at an all time HIGH."

It's always doom and gloom.

Is there any accountability for this? Especially for plasma where it seems they are selling it

at $800/liter to pharmaceuticall companies for drug production instead of transfusing it to patients?

I've donated blood many times with no ill effects. I wouldn't schedule a race or really hard workout within 3-4 days but my training was not affected at all. Also, check age restrictions. I'm not sure a 16 year old can donate.

Thanks.. she has.. 16 is the age minimum.