I gave whole blood yesterday and three people will benefit from my gift!
Eight weeks ago I suffered adverse effects from giving platelets through a process called aphereses by no fault of the local blood bank or their top notch phlebotomy technicians, but by the ignorance of the athlete, namely me!
I knew I had to take it easy the day of giving blood and work diligently to regain my fluids that day and that night!
But that's not all, unfortunately I did not know how long and involved the process really was and foolishly went ahead with training plans that had me straining at every spin!
The scary one was the day after when I joined a local legend while he and a friend did the fourth installment of the five 100 mile attempts he was completing that week for Earn-a-Bike! I was working above my level which I wanted, but was unconsciously putting myself in harms way because soon I would be suffering gastric distress and some mild vertigo! So at the half-way mark I decided to dial it back (I had set a PR for 25 miles but at what cost?), but by the time we stopped at the 3/4 way stop and it still had not dissipated I decided to just subsistence ride it back home and bid my farewells to my friends and legend. Despite these symptoms I was still clueless, after-all, "I am Batman!"
The next day was a regular Street Ratz Ride and I thought nothing and volunteered to do the traffic blocking since Rapha was at Earn-a-Bike! I thought, "no big deal! It's just a sprint here and a sprint there!" It took way more out of me than I anticipated! Good work Rapha! Thank you! That is some hard work!
On Sunday I arrived at the Boyz Ride spent, yet we decided to do Babcock and Scenic Loop! Spinning up hills, no problem! I had no get up and go for the OofSs (Out of Seat efforts)! Monday is regular day off although this year I have been riding almost every day and racked up seven thousand plus miles so far!
Tuesday is normally speed play and I went in to Hollywood Village to practice bikes, with nothing but poor results so after an hour and a half of torture I gave up and rolled home! That Strava post it finally dawned on me, "it must have been the blood donation!" Duh!
Yes it was the blood donation! But not just any blood donation! BTW the center's app can provide you with all the details of your donation! The blood draw was supposed to be a triple platelet, but we strated having issues and the draw was amended by asking me would you mind doing such and such and of course not thinking I said, "nah, go ahead and do whatever!"
Well, whatever was a double platelet, a double RBC, and a plasma!
One recovers from a plasma pretty quick, in 24 hours! Platelets are next with a 72 hour recovery! But the RBCs, or Red Blood Cells, the ones that carry oxygen to your muscles, take the longest with four to six weeks recovery! Although one can start checking the fires in the furnace at the end of three weeks according to Judd et al! The rest of this information comes to you from the Red Cross and the NASM and these guidelines are specifically tailored to Endurance Athletes and Performance!
So, yeah, I gave blood yesterday whole blood which puts me eligible to give again in January! No Prob! Today's ride less than twenty in less than two hours at a comfortable ten plus smiles per hour. Again, no prob! So now I have recovery rides through three weeks from now and then I can start checking and seeing if I am up to par to start building back!
This mistake cost me in pain and suffering! I overstressed my calve, my quad, and overworked my back and still uncertain if it was sciatica (which I have had and it did not feel like that this time), a disk issue, or an extra vertebrae in my back due to a vertebrae not fusing on my tail bone! This costly mistake was definitely not worth it and I have resolved to be more cautious until this is ironed out and possibly go back to giving platelets regularly.
