Am supposed to be giving blood 3 days before the Silverstone half marathon, should I make a new appointment or will my pint of claret be replenished by then

I would ring the transfusion service and ask - maybe they have an FAQ on their web site?

If it was me - I wouldn't run a race so soon after donating blood but then I'm no model as I have an intolerance to giving blood. My blood pressure drops too fast and I keel over. Last time I ended up in the back of an ambulance and then was prodded and poked for hours by numerous medics in casualty who couldn't understand my low resting heart beat.

Eventually one asked: Are you an athlete or very fit? When I explained Yes! I was out in twenty minutes....DOH

Kind of depends on your age and sex but in my experience I would make a new appointment, always seems to take me about a week to fully recover after giving blood

A Dr friend of mine reckons it can take up to 2 weeks to get back to fighting fitness after giving blood, but does depend on the individual

Keith, I was scared of giving blood for years! I finally went after finding out (at the age of 37) that I was an O- blood group. Appaently O- can be given to anyone so is much in demand. I felt so gulty that I started to go - have donated 5 times now and go whenever I can. And it is very straight very  straight forward and painless. I' m petrified of needles so if I can go anyone can do it, just don't look!!

Go on, get yourself booked in! It's a fantastic feeling knowing you could possible save a life!

I gave platelets for a couple of years (component donation) but because my iron levels are always just a little low I had to go back to whole blood donation. Then one time when arranging my next session I mentioned that I was running a marathon and asked about how long I should give before it. I was asked about my running habits and when I told the nurse that I ran 5 days a week and raced most weekends, she said it was a shame but it would probably be best for me if I didn't give blood at all, or only when I had a race-free couple of weeks.

I was gutted, but I figure I've done my bit, and can start again when I get too old to race!

They say that "men who have ever had sex with men" (as opposed to gay men who have not) are a group "shown to have a particularly high risk of carrying blood-borne viruses" which is why they are not allowed to give blood. They also say that "Every blood donation is tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), syphilis and human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV). However, despite improvements in blood screening tests, a small number of infected donations may be missed because of the ‘window period' between getting the infection and the test showing a positive result."

Mmm. I suppose.

I gave blood last year in the middle of my marathon training and can't say I noticed any significant adverse effects. Saying that I always feel fine after donations and my husband swears he feels better after giving blood!

I think I just took it easy on tha paces in the week after. Plus I was following the Furman marathon schedule which is based on 3 focused runs per week so could allow for 2-3 days rest after donation without affecting training. I did a 10k 2 weeks after giving blood and managed a PB.

I'd say rest for 2-3 days and then have a fairly easy program for a week after that.

Thanks for all advice. I am a regular giver of blood, but never so close to a race, but I usualy feel fine to run a couple of day later, but only training runs. So I think I will go along with the general feeling and book another appointment after Silverstone.