Does giving blood affect your cycling performance?

Was out in the hills today and felt knackered. I gave blood on Friday and wondered if it had any bearing on my lack of go.
I’ve been a fairly regular donor for the last 40 years and not really noticed it before.
They ask if you’re going to be exerting yourself but only in the next 24 hours.
Or do I just need to MTFU?

Sounds about right – depending on how much effort you put in. I did a group training ride a few days after donating earlier in the year. If a spot of blood doping is supposed to be worth +10%, I was definitely feeling the -10% effect!

If its hot where you are, that probably won’t help either.

I try not to get out for a session on the bike within the 24 hours as you say, and subjectively feel have less oomph in the days after – so in combination with heat, yes I’d expect a little less get up and go. But marginal on third day..

Regular donor here too – think it’s around 75-80 odd donations but can’t be sure as they messed up my records several years ago and now think I’ve given > 100 times, which isn’t the case !! good collection of paperweights, cups, badges, pins though 🙂

creagbhan – Member
I’ve been a fairly regular donor for the last 40 years and not really noticed it before.

40 yrs! 😀 Well done to you. What colour card are you on?

Ok, not an expert but I bet your body is slowly down a bit so trying to restock the cell again may need a slightly longer time. No? I mean when you were younger your system can reproduce the cell quickly but after 40 yrs it has to slow down a bit.

I have been told to stop donating ever since I started traveling to malaria zones.

Yes, it’s possible, it can take 6-8 weeks for the body to replace a full pints worth of red blood cells.

Obvisously it’s the first 24 hours that is most affected while the body is replacing the lost volume of blood.

24c-25c when I was out. In the Old Kilpatrick hills. Not huge but still a fair bit of climbing.

edit. Got a plasticky card. Working the rest of the week so it’ll give my body a bit longer to restock 🙂

I think a fairly detailed study showed that performance down significantly for 48 hours with a return to normal performance -5% within 14 days.

It knackers me, feel crap afterwards for days.

colour card? maybe down South, not for me and OP I suspect.

It’s something allong the lines of:

0-2 weeks after donation – your body excretes as many red blood cells from the bone marrow as it can to replenish the ones it just lost, after 2 weeks you should feel normal unless you’re being accurate and using a power meter in which case it’ll still be a bit low.

2-4 weeks – the marrow is still puping out new cells, but the rate slows down as the nutrients needed run out (iron and proteins specificly) and the difference between the ammount you now have and the ammount needed is reducing so there’s less stimulous to release them. Aerobic capacity should be back to pre-donation levels after 4 weeks.

4-6 weeks – the marrow is replenishing it’s stocks of nutrients and part formed red blood cells. By 6 weeks you’re back to normal.

The 12 week gap between donations is just to be sure, in some countries IIRC it’s as little as 8 weeks but they have a higher proportion of people turned away as they’ve not recovered from the last one. Guess that’s a balanceing act between getting as much blood as possible and not wasting peoples time so they don’t come back.

kcal – Member

colour card? maybe down South, not for me and OP I suspect.

I received gold card and a pin to thank me when was a regular donor at one point. I am in the Geordieland by the way.

Give platelets – no drop in performance.

A pint, that’s very nearly an arm full 🙂

Give platelets – no drop in performance.

In fact, being lighter you should go faster. 🙂

I went through a little phase of being a super-dedicated, every 15 days platelet donor, and I’ve got to say, it did knacker me out before long. You’ve got to be down on volume, that must have an effect?

Edit – and for regular donors, there must be an effect. It’s like doping in reverse, innit?

I was tested for platelet donation but apparently I only produce enough for me and not for sharing.

EPO boost red cell count.

Donation temporarily drops red cell count..

Therefore..

I need to get back into blood donating. I was 30+ units and changing address I fell out of the loop.

I think the haemoglobin is replaced faster than the red blood cells themselves, but I’d still expect a performance drop over a few days. Not necessarily something you’d notice if you weren’t riding with others or had some other way of measuring.

Everyones different. Post donation even though I hydrte etc. Feel normal but as soon as Im on the bike I feel fluey/washed out.

You can donate as often as every eight weeks at the national centres, but you need to enroll in the program for a few donations prior so they can track recovery times.

Never used to feel any difference – bit less resilient all round these days so donation is just one other thing that needs extra recovery time vs 10 years ago.

cynic-al – Member

Give platelets – no drop in performance.

Ya, switched to being a platelet donor but still cannot donate because of my visit to malaria zones. 😕

I’m the wrong blood type for platelet donations, B neg not wanted. Also waiting out a ban just now. Back on it come September.