21 Hackney GoodGymers celebrated Toyin’s 50th GoodDeed by running 6k to Shorditch Park to create 300 metres of mulch pathway.

A steady start and an electrifyingly speedy finish to 50 GoodDeeds from Toyin who has really dominated GoodGym this year! Congratulations on your amazing hard work and enthusiasm for all things GoodGym!!

Setting off the a random route to Shorditch park (not that I took the wrong path in London Fields!!). Notching up some good distance as we wiggles our way to one of the most well used Green Spaces in the borough.

With 3k under our belts we met Park Ranger Vince who had the tools all laid out and probably the biggest mulch pile in London ready for us to attack!

Shovelers, rakers and Wheelbarrowing Ninjas were all ready for action to help Hackney Parks keep our Green Spaces useable in wet weather for the community.

The Ninja’s were flying tonight speeding down the 200 raceway to tip the mulch at super speed! The takers were precise and efficient keeping the mulch thick and aligned while the shovelers provided the smooth and swift supply of mulch!!

40 minutes and 300 metres on mulch laid finishing in the perfect spot with the whole section complete!

With the tools loaded back onto the van we zipped off for a water side run down the canal back to base! Firing up the speed on the last 1.5k great to see everyone working hard all the way back to base!!

Think it was the added incentive of the post run Social that spurred us on! Thanks for the 16 who came along for a Thai refuel!!

See you next week for a visit to Shaklewell Primary to get their school garden on track!

Smooth Running

Joel

17 GoodGym runners helped Ramsey Flower Gardens tidy the path and plant bulbs on a cool Monday evening.

Ramsey Flower Gardens are a guerilla gardening group who maintain three gardens in Islington, keeping paths free from fly-tipping. They rely on volunteers to do the paths, so our efforts made a big difference!

After a short run there featuring the delights of the New River Path, we focused on one of their gardening spots: the Rosebowl alleyway, which Ramsey maintain with Islington council.

After meeting Paola from Ramsey at the task, we set off to work in two groups: team leaves, and bulb squad. Both dived straight in and achieved a lot in our 30 minutes there. Team leaves almost looked like they were going to run out of bags for leaves early! They also got a great bonus fitness task in the form of crushing bagged leaves down to create mulch. A great way to reuse garden waste cluttering the path, and a great workout for balance and core stability. Team bulbs meanwhile set about digging out the ground to plant new bulbs. Also a great workout for the upper body, and muscles we don't often use when running. Look forward to seeing the fruit of their efforts next year.

Whilst we were at the task, an additional couple of tasks cropped up. A few runners chopped back some plants and bushes with garden shears. And in a creative twist, a few runners - led by creative director Al, and, erm, supervised by Aidan - used stones to recreate a heart adorning one of the garden patches. Indulging their inner Kevin McClouds, the final product was the grandest of designs. Excellent work all round.

Tonight was also a particularly special night for GoodGym Islington, featuring a rare double-biscuit special, starting with homemade biscuits at the task courtesy of Ramsey, and finished off with a variety of post-run oreos.

Before we had those second post-run oreos, there was, of course, a fitness session. Stretching our legs on the way back, we ran back via Shoreditch park for a good ol' fashioned intervals session at 80-85% effort. Running short fast intervals is a great way to improve your pace for 5k-10k races, as they push you just above the point where your muscles produce lactic acid. When your run at this pace, your body learns to process lactic acid faster, your muscles become more efficient, and you'll be able to run faster for longer. A super effort from all with a great 60s-90s-60s set, with 30 second rests. For a nice intro on incorporating intervals in your weekly running, check out this Runners World article.

We then ran gently back to the start point, finishing with some easy stretches for the calves, quads, glutes, and hamstrings. A few then popped down to the Wenlock and Essex for our monthly social after. Art, biscuits, intervals, and drinks. What more could you want from a Monday?

16 Hackney GoodGymers battled the disappointment of a last minute task cancellation to dominate a all round Body workout on Well Street Common!!

After sending Virtual Congratulations for his monumental Bournemouth Marathon efforts to Rich!! And wishing all the GoodGymers the best of luck this weekend in York. Particularly looking forward to tracking our very own Ros after her tremendously impressive training block!

With staff illness and a cancelled meeting meant that no one was able to be at Abney this evening we were not able to complete our task in the cemetery. We will be back next month!!

So we took the opportunity to pump up the fitness!! A short run to Well Street Common where we were very well lite and able to hit some very impressive fitness marks.

Starting with some running based drills we skipped, marched and bounded our way up and down the paths before putting our form drills together with some very speedy high five 400m reps!

With our running fix complete we turned our attention to some conditioning and nailed a full body workout of both strength developing exercises and hitting our cardio hard with CV exercises to time!

With us nearly done we crushed a controlled Simon says leg workout to really get those legs tingling!!

A short run back and a long stretch out finished off a top fitness session!!

See you next week

Smooth Running

Joel

15 GoodGymers ran 4K to Rhodes Estate and conquered a mammoth task of digging, shifting and carrying in one of Hackney’s most physical tasks ever!!

Thanks to everyone who was able to come along this evening!!

A short run and monster task was the order of the evening while listening out for the football cheers in the background.

A shout out to the magical GG Olympics and for additional volunteers at the British 10k.

Then we were off a short 2kish run to Dalston where we met Alex and the Rhodes Estate Community gardeners.

After a mountain of compost was delivered with a bit of error in the tipping we had been recruited to dig and shift it back into the designated store area as to not incur the wrath of the council.

We got digging and shifting the tonnes of over flowing compost back into the designated area at a Bolt like rate lead by Elite Shoveller Dominique.

The compost also had secondary locations and we loaded up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to disappear to the far side of the Estate and air the growth of the gardens there!

30 minutes of hardcore digging and shifting we had victory!! All soil present and correct in the right areas!!

We turned our attention to the 6 massive 100kg Railway sleepers. Team work makes the dream work! And with many hands making still heavy work we carried the sleepers 200 meters using sticks to carry them. Creating a blockage so that naughty drivers couldn’t drive over the flower bed to get around the bollards in the road.

We so much physical work complete we drifted back to base after very much earning our endorphin rush!!

Catch you next week!! Don’t forget about the Summer BBQ at the Wick garden on the 17th.

Smooth Running

Joel

28 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Hackney Wick Community Garden.

Amazing to be back with the squad this week and a huge thank you to Katie for blazing a trail of navigational glory to and back from the task!!

3k very warm kilometres of running had us warmed up for task action and with loads of jobs to do we got right down to business!!

A forest of wood to break down into twigs, big twigs big bagged up and transported in brown Bins across the estate, virtually draining the river of water will the amount of watering that was required for a very thirsty garden (all done by buckets), ingenious work creating not only a hose pipe mini irritation system but also a nailless wood store!

40 minutes of graft rewarded by an amazing fresh fruit spread and water to fuel us up for the strong run back to base!!

Than you all for coming and best of to Deb and Paul for their amazing GoodGym tour!!

See you next week for a Hackney Downes adventure!

Smooth Running

Joel