Donating blood and training

I'm a frequent donor (I have hemochromatosis, so I need to get rid of excess iron). Yeah, it takes 3-4 weeks to get back to normal paces during interval workouts.

I won't donate within ~8 weeks of a major race to give my body time to get ready for a peak effort.

My thought is that the 3-4 weeks after a donation isn't all that different than training at altitude. I have reduced O2 capacity, so my performance is a bit worse, but if I train through it, I'll be better off at race time.

I know some people will donate during "off season" or after major races, but not during a build. YMMV.

But donating is definitely a good thing - almost everywhere around the country needs more donors.

If you give a pint of blood, you are reducing your overall blood volume from 10-10.5 pints to 9-9.5 pints, so call it a 10% reduction. That should be your approximate reduction in fitness as well (it's fairly massive) until 6 weeks later when you've built your blood volume back up. You are going to feel like crap that entire 6 weeks, but, at best, you could probably maintain your current fitness after those 6 weeks. I won't disparage you for giving blood, as it's a really great thing to do, but it is seriously going to impact your physical fitness for awhile and I would not plan on any races in the next 3 months. I'm sure you've felt it before, but you'll be shocked at how crappy you feel on even an easy run within 48-72 hours afterward. Don't even try to run within 24 hours. You will probably pass out. Hard workouts? I would wait at least 2 weeks.

Donating blood as a distance runner is about the worst thing you can do for your fitness. If you have other reasons more important than your running then go for it. But for training purposes about the only thing worse you could do would be to break your leg.

I don't know, I always feel a performance boost about 3-4 weeks after a whole blood donation. Maybe if you hang out at a lower hemoglobin generally, it takes longer to recover.

That might be the weirdest cause and effect relationship of all time. Never heard that one. Donate blood and make gains. People literally blood dope for the opposite reason.

It takes 3-4 weeks to get your red blood cell count back to its previous level.

Imho, it only makes sense to donate blood just after your A-race.

I have donated 35 times but stopped when I developed iron deficiency (I must admit I ate less meat and ran more at that time, so it was not just the donations).

I really struggle in that first week but push through, then the gains come a couple of weeks after. It really does feel like hypoxemic training or its equivalent.

Thanks for the feedback.

I know that I'll feel like crap for a bit but was just wondering if there was any long term benefit after my blood volume built back up.

My entire reason for wanting to donate it is because I know that there are frequent blood shortages and being a universal donor my blood type is in high demand. I may wait until the winter when I am not running or cycling as much and am primarily doing rowing, lifting, and some stationary biking.

yes, donating blood is the poor mans altitude.

This is a scaremongering troll post. You will not "probably pass out" by running 24 hours after a blood donation. You will feel sluggish on runs and workouts for a couple weeks though.

Donate. One donation saves more than one life. I just donated in early May and I have a big 10k race on 4th of July. I try to donate a couple times a year and try to do it strategically so it doesn't affect my running that much. It's sad that not many people donate.

It is worth noting that roughly half of that pint is plasma that can be restored quite quickly.

I donated a lot in college. While I was not a serious runner I was very active. For a few days I felt it but after that I seemed to be able to run and play sports just fine.

If you are getting paid to run then that changes the calculus.

3 months not racing seems very extreme.

I don't think you know how altitude works.

Always check yr ferritin values, they should never be low when donating blood.