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Running after blood donation? (Read 2794 times)

    Anyone have experience running after donating blood? I'll be heading into Boston around noon to donate a pint of blood. Can I get in my scheduled seven mile run this evening if I keep an easy pace, or should I take the day off? Modified to add: most of the after donation tips just say to keep the site dry and avoid heavy lifting or heavy exercise (whatever that means). I've donated lots of times and usually feel pretty good after, I've just always given myself a day off and I would prefer not to in this case.

    E.J.
    Greater Lowell Road Runners
    Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

    May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

    C-R


      I've done it but didn't enjoy it. felt like I was running in mud. You do need to keep well hydrated. IMO - skip a day and let your body recover. Not worth the potential problems.


      "He conquers who endures" - Persius
      "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel

      http://ncstake.blogspot.com/

      Mile Collector


      Abs of Flabs

        Ed, I have a friend that donates blood frequently. She would also attend track right after giving blood and doesn't seem to be affected much by missing a pint of blood. She also happens to be quite petite too. I have no idea how she does it. When I give blood, I'll be gasping for air for the next two weeks whenever I go running. I would recommend taking the day off. You'll probably ignore that advice so make sure you replace all the loss fluids by the time you head out on your run tonight. Otherwise, you may feel light headed due to low blood pressure. You may not enjoy the run because you'll be sluggish and short of breath, so again, you should probably skip the run tonight.
          I have been a pretty consistent blood donor and runner over the past year and a half and I usually see a drop in running performance the week I donate blood. So you may want to take a day or two off - or at least not be disappointed if you can't run as fast. I first made the connection this past November - I gave blood on Monday, went out for a 3 mile run the next day in preparation for the Thursday morning Turkey Trot. As soon as I put my HRM on that Tuesday morning, I noticed my resting heart rate was about 25-30 bpm higher than usual. I knew that I was in for an interesting run! I then went back and noticed that I had given blood two days before a 5K I ran in July - I remember feeling very sluggish and originally blamed it on the humidity and hilly course but now I know that the blood donation also had a part. I did some reading on the subject and it seems like the reason there is a loss of aerobic performance is that the red blood cells carry oxygen through the blood stream and donating blood reduces the amount of red blood cells. I have heard that making a platelets donation may not have the same impact, but I have not tried this. I am now training for my first marathon, so I'm going to skip one of my blood donations. I don't want to monkey with my training plan! However, after I run the marathon I may try doing a platelets donation to see if I see a performance drop after that. I hope this helps!


          Another Passion

            Ed, I think the last time I gave blood was earlier this month. I gave in the evening, drank plenty of water before and after, and then ran my scheduled run the following morning and felt fine. I didn't go the same day/evening though as my blood donation. I think it would be wise to wait since your body is down a quart. Oh, I guess that would be a pint... and a few sample vials. Big grin

            Rick
            "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa
            "I wanna go fast." Ricky Bobby
            runningforcassy.blogspot.com

              I asked the screening nurse, the nurse who inserted the needle (then went to lunch) and the nurse who removed the needle. All three said I shouldn't run tonight, so of course I ignored it. I gave it some thought and took the following steps: 1. Drank water like it was going out of style. Let some ginger ale go flat, and tossed that in to get some sugar in my bloodstream. 2. Took about a ninety minute nap. 3. Allowed seven hours to go by after donating before hitting the road. 4. Skipped my usual route, which has some pretty mean hills. Stuck to the town's main drag, which is pretty much flat as a pancake. 5. Used walk breaks. Of late, I have been running without walk breaks for anything up to about an hour. Before that, I was running 6 minutes and walking one minute. Tonight I ran only four minutes before taking 30 second walk breaks. 6. Ran a nice slow long-run pace, averaging 9:24 over 7.07 miles. 7. Ran East for a mile, then back. Ran West for a mile, then back, etc This way I was never more than a mile from the house in case I had to crawl home. Heeding advice here and from healthcare professionals would have been the smart thing to do, but nobody's ever accused me of being smart. I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree but I'm not crazy either, if I felt things weren't going well I would have cut the run short. I was a bit concerned with feelings of fatigue at the start, but I think that was from my long run on Sunday because I felt better when I warmed up fully. I'd like to say I did it in the interest of science, but really the deciding factor was the weather. It was a balmy 37 degrees, which felt heavenly in comparison to Boston's weather of late. It was just too nice to pass up.

              E.J.
              Greater Lowell Road Runners
              Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

              May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

              FastTalkingFatty


                Another regular donor weighing here: I give blood on Thursdays and it took me all of last year to correlate sluggish runs to my donation. I noticed because I run with a group on Saturdays and one time after a really poor performance I looked back at my description of runs and sure enough with the exception of one run I had described all those post-donation Saturdays as somehow sluggish and uncomfortable. Now I donate and still run the next day and day after but I know why I'm sluggish. And I now know to reschedule my donation times to fit my running schedule. In December I asked the tech at the Red Cross and she said that everyone is a bit different. So one person may not experience any extra difficulty while others like me do. Remember one time a few years ago I blamed a disastrous tennis game on my blood donation - now I feel justified in that bit of ego massaging. Cheers

                <www.runningahead.com/groups/veggies/

                  In December I asked the tech at the Red Cross and she said that everyone is a bit different. So one person may not experience any extra difficulty while others like me do.
                  I did come pretty close to taking the day off, because two people who left the donation area didn't even make it onto the elevator before they were woozy and had to be brought back in for observation. Thankfully I've never had that happen, I don't think I would be a regular donor if it did.

                  E.J.
                  Greater Lowell Road Runners
                  Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

                  May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

                  AmoresPerros


                  Options,Account, Forums

                    I have run within a couple of hours of giving blood -- I dunno, maybe 5 miles. I didn't notice anything. But, I tend to run slow most of the time these days -- maybe if I weren't going so slow, I'd have noticed Smile

                    It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.

                    FastTalkingFatty


                      Baddawg, glad you were able to run without much difficulty. Now you can be a regular donor, welcome to the habit that allows you guilt free cookies every 54 days.

                      <www.runningahead.com/groups/veggies/

                        Baddawg, glad you were able to run without much difficulty. Now you can be a regular donor, welcome to the habit that allows you guilt free cookies every 54 days.
                        And in January (National Blood Donor month) a voucher for a pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Traded in the voucher this morning, such a deal. Big grin

                        E.J.
                        Greater Lowell Road Runners
                        Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

                        May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

                          Anyone have experience running after donating blood? I'll be heading into Boston around noon to donate a pint of blood. Can I get in my scheduled seven mile run this evening if I keep an easy pace, or should I take the day off? Modified to add: most of the after donation tips just say to keep the site dry and avoid heavy lifting or heavy exercise (whatever that means). I've donated lots of times and usually feel pretty good after, I've just always given myself a day off and I would prefer not to in this case.
                          Yeah, you can do it. Stay hydrated, and go a bit easier on the next few runs. My HR is usually a good 5 to 8 beats higher for a few days after donating blood, which makes sense of course. (less oxygen, etc) I ran a marathon 4 days after giving blood in December. (training run pace though) My HR was higher, but otherwise I felt 'normal'. Smile


                          Another Passion

                            Confused Whew... what happened?!? Confused I gave blood, went for a quick five miler, was logging my run.... next thing you know... I'm waking up on the floor next to the computer desk?!? Confused Big grin Black eye

                            Rick
                            "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa
                            "I wanna go fast." Ricky Bobby
                            runningforcassy.blogspot.com

                              Good thing you made it home...

                              - Anya

                              lemondzurich


                                I'm surprised none of you mentioned donating certain products from your blood. I regularly donate plateletes, and have never felt flat, tired, or had to miss a run. In fact, it's the only type of donation I give. The downside to donating specific blood products is it takes much longer. Your blood is drawn into a machine with a centrifuge. The blood is "spun" which separates the individual products, then what's not needed is returned to you. Yep, returned through the same needle! They do give you some fluids in addition to your own blood back. This whole process takes up to 2 hours, where as before I gave plateletes, I could bleed out a pint or two of whole blood AND be sucking down a half dozen cookies in 25 minutes. I'm not an expert in how all of this works, but I do know how I feel afterwards, which is the same as when I arrived. Another difference in the two is how quickly one can donate again. The period between donations of whole blood is 8 weeks. The period with plateletes is 3 days! Yea, this isn't for the casual donor! One of the reasons I give is because not everyone can.
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