I feel pretty good about that. Not only because it might save someone’s life, but also because I took a whole load of time off my one unit PB. 4:07 for a unit!

Sadly, I missed out on beating a friend’s PB by 2 seconds. It’s something to aim for next time though.

Didn’t time it unfortunately, but a few years ago I battered upto the local donation session on my bike, and as it was quiet went pretty much straight through and got linked up. There wasn’t much preamble in those days.

Buy the time the nurse had finished taking another’s needle out and putting the plaster on, my bag was nearly bursting at the seams 😀 When I got the “you’re not going to do anything strenuous for the rest of the day” question, got a black look for telling her I was going to race my bike home, have tea then go down the pub for a few pints.

LOL. I used to pop in by the blood centre in Edinburgh, by Lauriston Place, on my way back from work, which was down in Leith – cue 10/12 mins of pounding up Leith Walk, George IV Bridge, and around by Chambers Street to get there. As above, I’d be ready for them to seal up within 2-3 minutes – trouble is it wouldn’t stop 🙂

Never timed it… Do we need a blood donation Strava?

Thanks for the reminder – I’d been meaning to check whether having the NHS carve a couple of holes in my back affected me being able to donate – apparently not, so I’ll try to get that booked fairly soon, unless anyone can tell me differently…

Willard – well done mate. They say it’s better to give than receive – especially true with blood!!!
.

I did a personal worst over Christmas – not completely sure what the nurse did with the needle, but I think she put it in one side of the vein and out the other. They gave up on the donation with very little in the bag. They were most apologetic, told me that the donation would still count on my stats and promised me a haematoma and bruise.

No lump under the skin and the bruise was somewhat less than impressive. 🙁

They don’t want mine.

🙁

(Type 1 Diabetes.)

I got told in no uncertain terms that going to a Crossfit session tonight would be a ‘Bad Thing(tm)’. Apparently they can choose not to invite you back if they find out you passed out after donating when doing something stoopid.

I went pretty much direct to a judo training session after my first donation. Not done that again 🙂

I’m just breaking the 4.30 mark so I’ve got work to do!
I felt sorry for the chap next to me who was hooked up before me and still there when I was leaving after getting a drink and making my next appointment.

I’ve started donating platelets instead of whole blood. They don’t take anywhere near as many red blood cells (the all-important-for-cyclists oxygen carriers!) and platelet count returns to normal within a couple of days or so instead of a few weeks for red blood cells so you can donate more often (double/triple donations every other week!). They only have a shelf life of five days so the NHS need a more steady stream of dedicated donors than for whole blood.

Well worth considering if you’re elgible, ask at your next session.