Annual rant: DO NOT DONATE BLOOD if you are serious about your cross-country season!

Aren't you the guy who lectures people about biomechanics without understanding the subject at all?

Why should we take you seriously? What do you really know about coaching?

This is ridiculous. Donating blood never hurt anyone, only helps. Don't be such a jerk. You have no evidence. In fact, wouldn't giving blood make you faster, since you get lighter? Duh. The bunk science on letsrun astounds me. Lighter = faster, its that simple.

Giving blood saves lives. Lets post links to local blood drives so everyone reading this can donate.

If you're at Kansas, there is one in September.

http://www.redcrossblood.org/news/centralplains/make-time-give-university-kansas-blood-drive-0

Kansas State XC wrote:

Donating blood never hurt anyone, only helps.

Tell this to the people who got AIDS from blood transfusions in the '80s and '90s. Of course, you can't actually tell them that, because they're dead.

Kansas State XC wrote:

This is ridiculous. Donating blood never hurt anyone, only helps. Don't be such a jerk. You have no evidence. In fact, wouldn't giving blood make you faster, since you get lighter? Duh. The bunk science on letsrun astounds me. Lighter = faster, its that simple.

Giving blood saves lives. Lets post links to local blood drives so everyone reading this can donate.

If you're at Kansas, there is one in September.

http://www.redcrossblood.org/news/centralplains/make-time-give-university-kansas-blood-drive-0

Are you kidding, or serious? I can't tell based off of the context.

Not Sure wrote:

Kansas State XC wrote:

This is ridiculous. Donating blood never hurt anyone, only helps. Don't be such a jerk. You have no evidence. In fact, wouldn't giving blood make you faster, since you get lighter? Duh. The bunk science on letsrun astounds me. Lighter = faster, its that simple.

Giving blood saves lives. Lets post links to local blood drives so everyone reading this can donate.

If you're at Kansas, there is one in September.

http://www.redcrossblood.org/news/centralplains/make-time-give-university-kansas-blood-drive-0

Are you kidding, or serious? I can't tell based off of the context.

The part about donating blood being good because you're lighter wasn't a give-away?

Go ahead and stop posted for 30 days. Polish up on your troll detection.

Not Sure wrote:

Are you kidding, or serious? I can't tell based off of the context.

my guess is that he's trying to get his competitors to donate blood, so he'll have a better chance of winning state.

4/10

You at least got a couple of bites with the ridiculous lighter = faster.

This is true. I had 2 teammates in high school, one boy, and one girl that did this 2 weeks before conference and the girl couldn't even finish the race and the guy was over 30-40 seconds slower than he should have been. Outside of season you should still give blood people.

Then stop posting .. wrote:

Not Sure wrote:

Are you kidding, or serious? I can't tell based off of the context.

The part about donating blood being good because you're lighter wasn't a give-away?

Go ahead and stop posted for 30 days. Polish up on your troll detection.

Should I stop posting, or are you kidding? I guess I will "stop posted" to be safe.

If out of season blood donation does not affect your performance (training) then out 0f season blood transfusion should also be allowed/legal for athletes.Just donate plasma instead. Or do some things else that would benefit the society.

anondude wrote:

This is true. I had 2 teammates in high school, one boy, and one girl that did this 2 weeks before conference and the girl couldn't even finish the race and the guy was over 30-40 seconds slower than he should have been. Outside of season you should still give blood people.

donate other things wrote:

If out of season blood donation does not affect your performance (training) then out 0f season blood transfusion should also be allowed/legal for athletes.

Just donate plasma instead. Or do some things else that would benefit the society.

anondude wrote:

This is true. I had 2 teammates in high school, one boy, and one girl that did this 2 weeks before conference and the girl couldn't even finish the race and the guy was over 30-40 seconds slower than he should have been. Outside of season you should still give blood people.

yeah but the "season" for xc starts in june. if you're serious.

and definitely by the second half of july, if you're just semi-serious.

no way i'm donating blood and screwing up my last six weeks of summer training. i can donate after states.

why not.? wrote:

Aren't you the guy who lectures people about biomechanics without understanding the subject at all?

Possibly! I studied it in grad school but it wasn't my actual major (coaching was), and in any case I only got a master's, not a doctorate. You?

Why should we take you seriously? What do you really know about coaching?

I freely admit that I don't have nearly the experience that some people on this board do: I barely coached college for a quarter-century, though I did get experience as an assistant in each event group and as a head. You?

In any case, I've been wrong plenty and am always happy to be set straight!

anondude wrote:

This is true. I had 2 teammates in high school, one boy, and one girl that did this 2 weeks before conference and the girl couldn't even finish the race and the guy was over 30-40 seconds slower than he should have been. Outside of season you should still give blood people.

It takes a moderately fit person 2 weeks to 2 months to restore their blood cell count, which would explain that. It would affect your training in the meantime too.

One suggestion is that it may affect ferritin levels, so anyone with borderline low iron may take longer than 2 weeks to recover.

You should just basically not donate blood. It impacts your training year-round. The only time I can think it may not be so bad is the first week immediately post-season if you plan to take it easy a few weeks. Whoever gets your blood should thank you for the superior blood, too.

Now a Coach wrote:

[quote]anondude wrote:

It takes a moderately fit person 2 weeks to 2 months to restore their blood cell count, which would explain that. It would affect your training in the meantime too.

http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_news_frameset.html?http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20040809_BloodDonation.html

One suggestion is that it may affect ferritin levels, so anyone with borderline low iron may take longer than 2 weeks to recover.

It can take 2 weeks to restore your levels BUT it is possible that you may experience PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT once your body gets back to normal levels and is still producing extra blood. Time to schedule a mid season team blood drive ;)

you should donate your organs to a hungry bear when you are still alive.0/10

lease wrote:

Okay, I realize I've posted similar stuff before, but it's a message that bears repetition.

It's now the latter part of July. From now until the fall cross-country season (in the U.S.) has ended, do not donate blood. I have seen athletes' promising xc seasons ruined because they were trying to be "nice" and donated, maybe during the course of a school or college blood drive.

Not only will donation directly affect your racing performance for several weeks; it will also hurt your training for a similar period, which indirectly will mean poorer racing for months.

Look, I'm a member of the Gallon Club. If you feel a little guilty about not donating, think of my having donated in your stead.

Be serious: Don't give blood, and give yourself a chance to have a great cross season!

I gave blood during my high school senior track season, and ran intervals that afternoon. I didn't notice it affecting my running at all after about a day.

Unless you are ultra serious about xc in which case you should go ahead and donate blood to your future self...