Just finished the last important road race of the year last weekend, and have an FTP test scheduled for next Monday. I also have a blood donation scheduled for Tuesday. Am I thinking right that I should probably put off the FTP test til a week after donating blood, and simply extend my post-A-Race rest week to another week of easy recovery/tempo rides following blood donation?
FWIW, there is a major blood shortage, so a few weeks of reduced power seems like a worthwhile sacrifice, given no important races til Spring.
Yes, do the FTP test AFTER the blood donation. You will lose aerobic capabilities from the loss of blood. You do NOT want to ride to a pre-donation FTP. It will be too high.
FYI, I merged your post with the existing Blood Donation thread. Have a look at the posts above, because there are some useful anecdotes and related info to review. Best to plan on at least 4 weeks of decreased power until getting close to a prior level. It may well be 6-8 weeks depending on a number of factors.
We all appreciate your donation!
I am planning my on in the near future to match my other health needs along with the donation benefit.
Folks, I’ve been asked if I want to be a Plasma donor. Obviously the first answer is yes; but then my training brain kicks in and I start to worry about the effects on my training. This thread has been a good read; I was interested to see @mcneese.chad comments regarding plasma being better than whole blood…
Is there any anecdotal evidence about what the impact of a Plasma donation is on performance? I’m happy to adjust my training just want to make sure I’m not going to have to completely rebuild my plan…
I donated plasma twice a week before the pandemic hit. I found that some adjustment was necessary. When I first started the next day was a no go for any intensity or longer endurance efforts so I treated those days as active recovery days. The longer I did it the easier it became to train even day of. Sweet spot would usually be as high as I would go for intensity though. You will notice a reduction in endurance/stamina post-donation.
My tips would be:
Plan to have some degradation of performance short-term
Day of plan to workout BEFORE donating with plenty of time between for your body to reset back to baseline. Don’t smash yourself for this session so probably no VO2.
Take it easy after for at least a day until you adjust (this took a while for me), so endurance to sweet spot while you figure out how your body handles the stress
You may need to reduce volume, especially if you’re a mid to higher volume athlete.
FWIW, gave blood 9/1. Pre-blood donation FTP was 230. On 9/8, FTP tested at 205- a 15% reduction. Today, 10/8, FTP back to 230. Reasonably healthy 56 yr old roadie who’s been racing a few years. Spent the month primarily focused on sweet spot and aerobic work (at reduced FTP).
YMMV, but there’s one data point.
My immunity dropped very much after donating blood. I was sick a lot. I heard about such a consequence, but it cost much for me. I understand everything, but I don’t want anymore…
Maybe it’s a bit late and you have already made your choice, but here’s my experience on being a plasma donor. I’ve been a donor for about two years now and it did effect my training a bit. When I was doing a hard workout the day after I gave plasma (I usually give plasma in the evening) My RPE was much higher and also my heart rate would go up a bit.
Next day it would be fine again. So I adjust my plan accordingly. When I was doing low volume I did baxter on Tuesdays but when I gave plasma I shifted the workouts so that Baxter is after my plasma donation.
Because I have antibodies for Covid I gave plasma every week last couple of months, so I did my Monday training, Monday evening plasma donation, Tuesday Baxter and then Wednesday my planned training (the hour and a halve weekend training from the low volume plan) without problems.
When I’m not training I do Baxter or the endurance ride from the mid volume plan without fuelling, but when I’m donating, my aim is to get my plasma count up. I try to hydrate more and I do let the room temperature come up. I read that (I think it was a tr blog post about donating) that a higher temperature helps to get blood-plasma volumes up more quickly.
Recently I decided to start donating blood again after a few years of not doing it, as there is a real shortage of my blood type. Went and donated with my gf yesterday, and this morning when doing my regular commute/morning intervalls the legs felt like bricks. I attribute this to the loss of blood and fluid from donating.
Now I’m probably going to dial back all my workouts for 2-3 weeks so I don’t start overtraining. I know from experience that my recovery will be alot slower after donating blood.
What I’m wondering is if anyone has any tips or tricks to help the recovery process after donating blood?
I think it is mentioned in the topic above but if it is a problem for your training you can still donate blood plasma or platelets without the ill-effects of red blood cells loss.
How about this, donate blood, others will benefit…but ask to keep half, later when you need it, take the saved half back. By that time your blood volume will already be nearly back to normal so you get a huge benefit. I am joking of course, but you know Lance admitted to this many times :0
Replying to an old post, as that just was a really good study even though results aren’t that surprising. I’m actually surprised that supplementing with iron isn’t recommended more to regular donators unless ofcourse they have too high iron levels.
I’ve donated few times in the past and now decided to do it after summer / “race” season. I read this topic and was expecting 10 % drop in ftp.
I did ramp test on 21st September, ftp 224 W, and since then only rode TR couple of times as I ran a half marathon on 2nd October.
I donated blood on Monday 4th.
On Thursday 7th I rode 30 min Ritter -5, which has short VO2 intervals, and it felt hard.
Yesterday on Sunday 10th I did the ramp test and to my surprise only lost 3% with suggested ftp 218 W. Heart rate maybe stayed elevated longer than last time, other than that felt surprisingly good.
My hemoglobin levels have always been good/normal and I recently got the ferritin tested and it was 97 so not low but not too high either. After donating I started supplementing with SiderAl Forte which is sucrosomial iron. To my understanding the idea is similar to what Maurten does with carbs in their products so that the iron is encapsulated and transports through the stomach to the intestine. Ofcourse I don’t know how my iron levels are filling etc but can recommend this type of iron supplement as I’ve had zero stomach issues which are common with normal iron supplements.
And yes I know that ramp test results one week after donating probably have nothing to do with supplementing. I’m still going to continue supplementing for some time to fill up the iron that was lost.
Interesting thread. I used to donate very regularly until one time that was followed by a big drop in fitness that went on for weeks and was accompanied regular palpitations. Turns out I’d emptied my ferritin stores. I had to take massive iron supplements for three months to build them up again. The GP at the time told me to stop donating until after menopause, and so even though I’m a universal donor I haven’t donated since. Strangely, I never had any bad effects all the previous times I donated.
I don’t know how it is in other countries, but in Finland the recommendation for donating blood is for women no more than 2-3 times a year and fo men 3-4. Young women are also offered iron supplements. Before each donation they check hemoglobin but that doesn’t tell much about ferritin stores. And according to that study linked above it takes a long time for ferritin stores to fill back especially if they were low already before donating. So even if the hemoglobin is still above the recommended level, donating every 3-4 months can really bring those ferritin levels down.
I think it’s not that strange that you didn’t have those symptons before as it could be that just was the first time your levels went so low that it actually affected how you felt and gave the symptons. And compared to other ways of losing iron the blood donation makes a rapid change.
Yes, I think that’s how it was. My ferritin was probably already low, but not enough for me to notice it. I think I took 200 mg iron every day for three months to get it back up. It was not pleasant!
I wonder if the post-donation FTP-loss is really a sustained setback, or if anyone has seen their FTP rise after the blood has regenerated?
The reason I’m asking is, if you continue to stress your system while your body is regenerating the red blood cells, might you be training your body to work with less blood?
Just donated today. Was not expecting to be knocked out for 4-6 weeks but even if that’s the price I think it’s worth it. Been beating up on my buddies a little too much anyways recently
I’m a pretty regular blood donor (whole blood). I definitely take the next 24 hours off. Then i do an endurance ride. By day 3 I can do most workouts but I’ll be more tired. In a week or max 2, I’m back to 100%. Since I’m not a professional cyclist, the week or set back isn’t a big deal and I know I’m helping someone out. So to me it’s worth it.
I will check it out.