Blood donation and running

by Steve
(USA)

Blood donation and running :

"Hi Marius,

I am planning to donate blood next week. How long after that will my training efforts return to normal?"

Answer:There are several studies on this actually and I did it once myself (during the fall) to test out. You have to count in there at least 3-4 weeks, usually 4-6 weeks. Most have about 5 liters of blood volume and you draw out about 0,5 liters, so 10 %. It is quite a large amouth and there are plenty of studies where you can look at the effect of this on performance.

Having said that, there is also support that one can "overshoot" the normal values thereafter and some have reported a boost in performance 5-6 weeks after a blood donation. But it is surely a risk to take, in addition to the increased risk of infection thereafter.

Be absolutely sure that you take iron tablets after this, so that you have enough iron in your system to build those new blood cells!

I wish you all the best,

Kind regards,
Marius