It’s September and that means one thing – CMT Awareness Month. During the month of September I will be using my blog to play a part in raising Awareness with an “alphabet challenge” – blogging a letter / key word almost every day. Today is brought to you by the letter L. I hope my month of blogging will help you to learn more about CMT – the most common but least well known hereditary nerve disorder – and me. And I hope this will also help to raise funds for the Charcot Marie Tooth Association to support its efforts to find a treatment for CMT. You can join me in learning more about CMT by clicking onto www.cmtausa.org and of course a donation would be wonderful too!
~ 1 ~
One of my favourite professional cyclists is Jen Voigt. Too bad he retired this year (but will be seeking to break the hour cycling distance record first). His quotes on the pro circuit were always great. And the fact that he had to borrow a kid’s bike in 2010 in order not to be out of the Tour de France completely won me over to be a fan of his.
One of my favourite Jens quotes is “Shut Up Legs”
This quote is perfect for those of us with CMT. My mind may be willing but my legs – from feet to hips – may say no. And then I give them a stern talking to, and see what I can accomplish on that day.
~ 2 ~
This weekend was one of those when I didn’t really know how my legs would react. On Saturday I decided to try out a “new-to-me” swim session with London Fields Tri Club and then head to my first bootcamp in a few months (hello offseason!). In between and scattered throughout I somehow managed to log over 22,000 steps (which is approximately 9.5 or 10 miles depending on which conversions you use).
It was a pretty full on day for me. I used fins at swimming – only 300 meters but the first time I have used fins in months. At bootcamp I did not wear my ankle braces, thus further working my small stabilising muscles.
By Sunday I felt good physically – but my legs were super tired. When I got ready to get on the bike, my knee just slid out of place partially subluxing. (Note: this is not related to CMT, but rather EDS, where my loose connective tissues and the shape of my kneecap make dislocation a frequent occurrence.) It was a classic example of my legs telling me to shut up – or were they. I don’t advocate that everyone follow my approach, but as subluxing is something I do frequently, I decided to test my knee to see if the “temporary slip” had any lasting effect. With no pain, I decided to do my scheduled bike ride, albeit at a lower intensity than I had originally intended.
Working together with the legs on that one to get the job done!
~ 3 ~
For me doing that Sunday bike ride was important – it is time for me to align my actions with my goals. One of those goals it to improve my bike performance for 2015. So time to get used to doing bike trainer sessions again, time to make time for the sessions that I so often want to ignore.
A first test for me will be the Tour of Sufferlandria.
I have seen this Sufferfest-fest come and go online for the past few years, always the last week of January, but never felt prepared enough for it, or that I have trained enough for it. Not in 2015. 2015 will be the year that I do “The Tour”.
So I’ve got my bike trainer set up, started to download videos onto the iPad I use while riding, and am ready to work hard. Achieving goals isn’t magic.
Time to shut up legs and stop your moaning and procrastinating – it’s time to enjoy the work to come!
It’s CMT Awareness Month. Today’s post was brought to you by the letter “L” – LEGS. You can learn more about CMT and donate to support the search for a treatment for this (at present) incurable progressive degenerative nerve disease at www.cmtausa.org — Thank you!