Running and donating blood

Robert,
I appreciate your post. I have wondered about the effect of this. I
run and lift weights and do other training so I have been concerned
that it would wipe me out to give blood. It sounds like it could be
something for me to do on a Friday if I planned on taking a weekend off
or taking it easy on the weekend. I have been wanting to start giving
blood so I will try to look for a good time to do it. I have two races
in April so that doesn't look too good since I plan on training hard.

Thank you,
James

In article <[email hidden]>,

JamesG said:

Robert,
I appreciate your post. I have wondered about the effect of this. I
run and lift weights and do other training so I have been concerned
that it would wipe me out to give blood. It sounds like it could be
something for me to do on a Friday if I planned on taking a weekend off
or taking it easy on the weekend. I have been wanting to start giving
blood so I will try to look for a good time to do it. I have two races
in April so that doesn't look too good since I plan on training hard.

Day after the second of your April race is a convenient time. You'll
need to be backing off your training intensity then anyhow. Or,
more generically, as you say Friday of some weekend you're planning to
back off some anyhow.

Even on the next day run, my 'sluggishness' is just a matter of
making a usual 50 minute run a 53 minute run. Noticeable, but not
severe. Hot and humid turns that 50 minute run into a 58 minute run.
My experience. Some people feel less effect, some more.
--
Robert Grumbine http://www.radix.net/~bobg/ Science faqs and amateur activities notes and links.
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they
would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences

Donating blood........what a scam.

Robert Grumbine said:

Namely, you can.

Question hasn't come up for a while, but I donated today so
will remind folks.

You can indeed donate blood and still run. You'll want about
24 hours between donating and running again. And the first few
days you might feel sluggish in the running. But that's about it.
Well, if you have an important race, you'll want to donate more than
about 6 weeks ahead of the race. The last few seconds of race
performance will take about that to return.

People do vary, of course, and the details above are mostly mine.
I've raced at about the 2 week mark, and not noticed any effect, though
typical red blood cell count recovery is supposed to be about the 6 weeks.

The last time I donated I found my blood glucose ran higher for about 6
weeks, which also happened at high altitude so I think is a reaction to
rapidly producing new red blood cells. So I've been leary of donating
since. Your experience is interesting--if I don't have a race coming up
I will try.

Pam

Pam,

What is it like when your blood glucose runs high? How did you know,
are you diabetic?

James

A good physcal equivalent is running a mile higher altitude.
Your below average a few days and not up to peak performance
for a month or two.

JamesG said:

Pam,

What is it like when your blood glucose runs high? How did you know,
are you diabetic?

James

Yes, I am a diabetic and test my blood glucose several times a day--the
philosophy I start from is at
<http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm>. If you are
worried about yours you don't need to have a prescription in order to
buy a meter and test strips, though the test strips are expensive.

When my blood glucose ran high after meals I was sleepy. People with
severe uncontrolled diabetes get other symptoms like excessive thirst
and vision changes. I don't have a family history--I got diagnosed
before I had complications only because I had had a couple of warning
signs and so insisted my doctor do a test as part of my regular blood
work. Testing yourself is even better--doctors usually do only a
fasting blood glucose test, and some people run high after meals long
before their fasting blood glucose starts to rise.

Pam