It was a whopping three-task operation this evening in Tower Hamlets. Thanks goodness for a resilient, resourceful task force...

Lieke led to Look Ahead

We were lucky enough to have Task Force members Lieke and Sarah taking control of this new task. Look Ahead is based in Limehouse, and is a 24-hour service providing specialist support and care services to individuals with a variety of needs. Lieke headed up the slightly longer run to the venue, taking with her Martin, Miranda and Gabrielle, with Sarah meeting and greeting the runners at the task. Lieke writes, "We had a very warm welcome by Catriona and Laura, with some tea waiting for us on arrival (Autumn is really coming!). When the task was explained to us, we soon realised there was no time to waste, as both the front and backyard needed some TLC in time for Autumn. Five bin bags - and lots of trimmed plants - later, the clients can now enjoy the garden again. We even got a little bouquet out of it - see pic!"

Bryon tackled tricky trellises

Meanwhile, task force member Bryon headed up the crew consisting of Tim, Jess, Becky and Domitille, returning to Cranbrook Community Garden, to help continue work on the trellis construction. This was a fiddly affair requiring lots of creative thinking - and patience. Task owners Elaine and Janet busied themselves organising sticks and canes for the runners for this surprisingly complex little task, while Domitille and Becky headed to the borders at the front of the garden for a spot of weeding and pruning.

I weaved our way to Weavers

The remaining runners headed to Weavers Adventure Playground, via busy Bethnal Green Road, for the team to get to grips with some unfinished table business. Dave, Polly and Si settled into the serious situation of assembling the table from misshapen blocks and planks of wood, ("It's a bit like Ikea assembly, but without a manual.") while Chris and Emma lovingly painted the bright bench with a second coat, leaving it looking glossy and very inviting to a weary-legged runner.

...before we all met for Bethnal Green body weight moves

And so it was the entire team made it back to Bethnal Green Gardens to finish with our Summer Shred workout. In order to leave no muscle group feeling neglected, we ploughed through squat jacks, prisoner lunges, lateral lunges, single leg deadlifts, 'T press-ups, planks with knee taps, The Sprinkler, and the seated sprinter. Ouch - in a good way. All for the greater good (think injury prevention, washboard abs, stronger back muscles etc etc). And no sooner had we finished our last stretch, were we heading back to base - nearly on time, were it not for the slowest traffic lights in the world.

Extra-special shout-outs this week

Thank you on behalf of the group to the brilliant task force tonight, who have helped out with a lot of behind the scenes planning and enabled us to commit to three, very grateful task owners. Thanks to Sarah for helping to plan Look Ahead, and for Lieke for stepping in so quickly to lead the run, and for lovely pics and report. Thanks from the group to Bryon, who stepped in so quickly to lead Cranbrook, and who took lovely pics.

Massive welcome on board our Task Force to Dave - what a great start to the week to hear you've joined the TH Task Force - and for being up to lead the run to Weavers.

Thanks to Si ,for correctly identifying our workout spot, and navigating our route to Bethnal Green Gardens.

And a big GG welcome to Emma who was running with Tower Hamlets for the first time - was really lovely to have you on board and we hope to see you again very soon.

And so to next week

Next week, we're two-tasking it again: proficient painters you're needed back at the gorgeous Glasshouse Community Centre; green-fingered gardeners you're needed at marvellous Meath Gardens.

And then you're all needed for our Buns & Guns workout, as we focus on butt and biceps. Oh, and then we're going to head to the pub for a cheeky half to celebrate...(not sure what yet, but we'll think of some excuse - reason - by Monday). So sign up here for next week's run.

In the meantime, have a wonderful week, everyone, and see you soon.

Many hands...but still not light work

The heat was on tonight as we watered 18 trees, spread out over a large area, and planted bundles of new shrubs in a very short space of time...

Two teams, two entirely different tasks...

A team of 11 headed to lovely Meath Gardens this evening for two, very different gardening tasks.

Task owner Tunde headed up the tree-watering team, who split into a further two groups: one headed canalside to fill large, empty bins with water; the other team went on a tree-recce of the park with Tunde to establish which trees needed the water.

Meanwhile, the second team of 5, led by task owner Joanna, busied themselves with planting new shrubs after weeding out stubborn dandelions (you have to show the dandelion who's boss, we learned tonight - it's all about the lengthy tap root, FYI).

Task time extension

A few minutes before we were due to start our speedwork, both teams requested an extension to enable them to complete the tasks. Speedy, productive and thorough - that's a GoodGymer through and through, and so we mutually agreed to push back our fitness session a few minutes, to enable the gardening team to complete the border, and the tree-waterers to cover every tree, even those outside of the park.

"This lap will be run at your 'on-finest-parkrun-form' pace"

And so a,little later than planned, we moved to the centre of the garden for some speedwork. Using what can only be described as a giant molehill as our lap marker, the team sped brilliantly through three, 'scenario-led' runs to the molehill and back. We combined, "Run there at your 'quite-hungover-gentle-jog' pace, then run back at your 'sprinting-for-the-very-last-night-bus-home pace'". Thank you for giving it your absolute all and for being such good fun.

And so to the soleus

And so we handed over to Danny, who was joining us tonight to deliver some fabulous flexibility content. Danny took us through a great selection of stretches, for the adductors, glutes, ITB and soleus - muscles that often get overlooked for better-known stretches, but that can play an important role in preventing and alleviating runners' twinges such as Achilles pain, plantar fasciitis; knee, hip and lower back pain.

Back to base - nearly on time

We then sped back to base making really good time, finishing with a couple of effective static stretches, thereby leaving no flexibility stone unturned for the evening.

What a great night, everyone!

Big shout-outs to...

Danny, for researching and delivering some lovely fitness content and for back-marking; Si for pun assistance and inspiration, and to our very own Chris , whose 50th good deed it was tonight. Lovely, lovely stuff.

Don't miss out on next week's fun - sign up for our NEW TASK now!

Next week, we're two-tasking it: back to Weavers Adventure Playground, to finish the furniture we started last week, and, for those who fancy a slightly longer run, we're also heading to a new task at Look Ahead, on Commercial Road, for a lovely bit of straightforward gardening. Don't miss out - sign up now.

(...And don't forget we're pub-quizzing it this Sunday.)

And lastly, don't forget we're heading to The Coborn on Sunday with our newly-named Let's Get Quizzical team, so do come and join in the fun, and celebrate the start of September - you can sign up for that here.

Right, that's it from me - have a wonderful week, everyone, and hope to see you soon.

15 runners headed back to Hoxton Hall to continue the work in the basement...

15 runners had both brain and lower body tested when assembling Ikea bureaus for the youth arts programme at Hoxton Hall, combined with a tough tempo race back to base.

Working with local young people has been at the core of what Hoxton Hall does for over 150 years with activities including a wide range of art forms such as music, drama, dance and visual arts. The GoodGym team were on hand for the second week running, this time to assemble Ikea bureaus to be used as work stations.

One team worked solely on assembling the flatpack furniture while a second team lifted large wood surfaces out for recycling - an unexpected bonus for anyone wishing to work their lats on a Monday night in the run up to Spring . The team coped marvellously with devouring manuals at record pace (and were very generous with their time).

Then, as time had got away with us, we headed back to base with a tough tempo run, unusually thankful for the pedestrian crossings giving us time to catch our breath. We finished by grabbing a couple of extra penalty stretching minutes on the hotel steps to keep calves (and lower body in general) happy.

It was my first official night as the new Tower Hamlets trainer and the team were just amazing - thank you to Dave for awesome stats and co-navigation; David for brilliant back-marking, always keeping everyone in sight, and a very big welcome and well done to first-time runners, Louis, Constance and Kate. It was a challenging task as an intro, not to mention a tough run back, so congratulations and hope to see you again soon.

Thank you all for an unforgettable first week, and I can't wait to do it all again next Monday!