11 people ran 8k to hand out information cards to the homeless for SIFA Fireside

We welcomed John to GG Brum tonight, who had travelled all the way from Crewe in Cheshire to join us. John is currently involved in hopefully setting up GoodGym in Crewe, so it was great to see him at the run tonight.

Thankfully the heavy rain that had been about all afternoon had abated, it also seemed somewhat milder than earlier today, which was all very welcome. We set off with our SIFA info cards, heading along the canal to Brindley Place. Then it was a case of running around the city in a circular route to give out the cards to the homeless. Everyone did their bit, all giving out several cards. In total the group gave out cards to at least 35 different people. The cards showed were SIFA is situated and that it is somewhere they can go between 9am-1pm daily to have a shower, get a sleeping bag and further support. Therefore raising awareness of SIFA to the homeless is a really worthwhile task. Once we had done our great deed we headed back to 1000 Trades, where just around the corner we did some interval training.

pyramids

Tonight was a pyramid session. 30 seconds effort, 45 seconds, 1 minute, then back down to 45 and 30, all with 30 seconds recovery between each one. The idea, to start off fast, stay controlled in the middle Rep, then finish briskly. The repetitions were on a gradient, so some of the reps were uphill and some down. Unfortunately for the group the 1 minute effort was up hill! The group again all put in a great shift. Aaron and Tom powered along. John was fantastic on every rep, Fiona put in her customary big effort and Nicola worked hard in her first session for a few weeks. Rob flew down the downhills showing a great leg turnover. After the last rep everyone was exhausted, which is just how it should be and showed what effort each and every single one of the them had put in. The lucky part to tonight’s fitness session was that once it was complete the group only had 200 metres to get back to base! So that was that for another week.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

11 runners ran 6k around the city centre after brainstorming possible future tasks

Tonight we had Richard back for the first time in a while, he even came up with tonight’s pun!

Tonight’s task was to help out at the Girl Guide Association, however unfortunately it was cancelled, hence the pun! It was decided that the new ‘task’ would be to brainstorm some suggestions for possible task contacts, as at this time of year the task side of things can run a little dry. After a few suggestions and some stories from David and Fiona regarding this weekend’s Brum Half Marathon we got on our way.

Round town

The plan was a steady run around the city centre, before joining the lit part of the canal and heading towards St Paul’s Square ready for a Bootcamp workout!

Hardcore

Tonight’s Bootcamp was a little longer then the usual HIIT stuff due to time being on our side. It was basically two exercises back-to-back, 50 seconds in total, then a twenty second rest, a 2nd set, then ten seconds rest before a 3rd set. If that wasn’t enough the group did three pairs of exercises in total! To start with it was high knees running, followed by tuck jumps! A special mention goes to David here, despite his legs still being ‘trashed’ from Sunday’s half marathon he kept going! The next two exercises were squat jumps, followed by holding the squat position and boxing, a real leg burner! Abi and Richard showed great form with the squatting on these two exercises. The next two were mountain climbers and straight leg kicks. The mountain climbers were especially impressive, everyone showing good form, Fiona’s legs were going like the clappers, which being a Brum Half finisher as well was especially impressive. Laura, Karin, Aaron and Emily also showed grade A form. That was bootcamp done then......well not quite, one extra thing! The wall squat! The aim was one minute, then I added a further ten seconds and although the whole group did great holding it for seventy seconds considering how tired they were, a special mention goes to Richard, Nicola, Aaron and Liam who managed an unbelievable ninety second hold!

Once done it was a great relief for the group we only had a very short run back. Though Aaron took a few on a little de-tour to show them were a ‘gin bar’ was! I think I will stick to the ‘Ray Mears’ ;-)

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

13 runners ran 5k to help feed the homeless and organise clothing for the Birmingham Mission Care Centre

Tonight it was great to have Annie back with us, after being away for some time with injury, the group have definitely missed her!

We were off to the Brum Mission tonight after missing last months visit, so John and Wendy were especially pleased to see us! Once there the group split in two. One group helping in the kitchen and serving, the other group helping Maureen in the clothing department. We found a rather interesting logo on hoodies provided by a scaffolding company who definitely had a sense of humour! Abi and Aaron where happy to pose for picture with it!

Once we had done I duties at the Mission it was on to some hill training. Six minutes of running up hard and running down hard, in otherwise six minutes of hard graft, or otherwise known as ‘Kenyan hills’. Aaron and Liam led the way, Aaron sporting his golf cap, maybe in honour of Europe’s recent Ryder Cup triumph! George wasn’t far behind, Abi and Nicola worked hard pulling each other along. Garry, Fiona and Rob looked in good form in preparation for the Birmingham Half Marathon and Annie put it some great work in her first session back. Again it was a great workout by everyone. Just as we finished we had a guy who came across to us, seeming very excited to see a GG group! He was only another GG member from Lambeth (hence this weeks pun)! Andy was his name and he took a group selfie with us all which I’m sure will be ‘doing the rounds’ on various GG social media pages!

After all that excitement it was time for a steady run back and it was job done until next week.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

13 people ran 7k to drop off donations at Suited for Success

Tonight we welcomed Junaid and Balal to the group, it is great to have you both on board.

Without further a do we set off to Suited for Success with our sacks full of donations, as it’s less than a k away and we were all weighed down with our big bulging sacks with all our donations, we took a steady walk down there. We were warmly greeted by Janice, who explained what the charity do and then after dropping our donations off we had a few pics and we were on our way again.

The group headed along the canal taking in the Soho Loop before stopping at the bridges near were we entered the canal. This was our interval workout destination. A brand new session of using the short, sharp inclines of the Bridge’s as hills. The plan was four sets of two minute ‘efforts’ with 1 minute rest between. The idea to keep to the left, run up the bridges hard then run down at a good pace, as going down hill you naturally recover anyway. Therefore it was basically four lots of two minutes of hard graft. The bridges meant the group went from one side of the canal to the other and then turning back again until the two minutes was up. Just before we started we saw Taz and a couple of other lads from Run Birmingham who were out for a run, so of course they joined in, the more the merrier! Taz even took a few pics for us.

What a workout!

Now I say this most weeks (and it is true) but the group were fantastic tonight, I would even go as far as saying it was the best fitness session at GG Brum yet! And that is saying something as we have been going over a year and a half now! Everyone was fantastic, I won’t mention you all individually, as honestly everyone put everything into it and it was great to see! The whole group really did push themselves to the limit! You were all running that fast you were 'just a blur' on some of the pictures! The only downside (or maybe not for some of the group!!) is that due to the dark nights we probably can’t do that exact session again until next spring. But anyway something to ‘look forward’ too! We just got the session completed in the last of the light, after which was around 1.5k back to base on some rather ‘cream crackered’ legs!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

12 people ran 7k to help feed the homeless and organise clothing for Birmingham Mission

Tonight, we welcomed new member Evelyn to GoodGym Brum for the first time, its great to have you on board!

George kindly did the back-marking duties, while Aaron did the front. We got on our way with a steady run up to the Mission. On arrival John warmly greeted us and split the group in two. One group went upstairs to help Maureen with sorting clothing, Fiona even found a box to sit in! The other half were in the kitchen helping serves the food.

Once done we went off to do a bit of hill work. This involved two sets, of four-minute efforts, with one-minute recovery between sets. The idea being as the ‘effort’ time was split in two, the group might go even faster! The drill was, run up the hill as hard as you can, then jog back down to recover. Rob, Aaron and David shot to the front. Amy put in some great work in her first GG outing in a while. Evelyn showed some great form powering up the hills on her first go at them and Fiona put in some great effort, running off the top of the hill particularly well. I shouted encouragement telling people to run to where I was stood, using the phrase ‘to me’ giving myself inspiration for this week’s pun! In recognition of the late Chuckle Brother, Barrie Chuckle, a childhood hero of many. As ever the whole group were great, including Lee, Abbie, Laura, Nicola and George, there that’s everyone deservedly mentioned!

Once done with the hills, we took a steady run along the canals back to our start location and that was job done for another week.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

18 people ran 8k to Stanhope Community garden to tidy the garden

It was great to welcome four GoodGym newbie’s tonight. We had the pleasure of Laura, Ilona, Maya and Cameron’s company. It was also awesome to have Suze join us from GG Sheffield, meaning we had three Yorkshire people on the run tonight with Suze adding to the Tyke squad of myself and Sam.

Tonight, was a great night for running, nice and sunny, but a bit cooler than recent times. We headed off to Stanhope, after arriving we were greeted by the team at the garden who instructed us to do a bit of general tidying. It was a bit of weeding, sweeping etc. There were some car tyres which needed moving. Abi, George and Sam did the honours hence this week’s pun!

killer hills!!

Once done we set off back, but before we did the group had the small matter of six minutes of tough hill work. This was on a very steep hill, running up hard and jogging down as recovery. The focus was to get a high knee lift and not over-striding as the group powered up the hill. We got going, Aaron looking great after his six weeks out after a hernia op. George, Liam, Cameron and Suze flew up each hill. The two Laura’s and Emily dug in powering up to the top and Maya and Ilona put in a great shift on their first GG outing. As ever as much as everyone says they don’t like hills, the whole group were excellent, pulling each other along. We even had two lads aged ten and eleven who joined in from the local houses, future Mo Farah's perhaps?! At the end of the six minutes, the group did one more hill effort all together, it was fantastic to see everyone charging up the hill, giving absolutely everything! Top stuff!

Once done, the downside was the group still had a 3k uphill run back to base, however it was no problem for this group as everyone managed it at a good ‘clip’.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

14 people ran 7k to water and weed the garden for Stanhope Community Centre

Tonight it was great to welcome GG newbie Emily to the group. It’s great to have you on board :-)

Once the intros were done we were on our way to Stanhope to use our green fingers for a bit of gardening. Richard did the front marking duties, while Garry did the back. Just before arriving at our destination we did our usual hill sprint up to the centre. Everyone pushed hard all the way, Hasnain giving it some right stick, Morwenna getting right up on to those toes and Laura, springing up on her light feet.

Next it was onto the task. It was a case of watering, more watering and weeding. Karin took control of the big hose, spraying water all over the shop! Not just on the plants! Hence this weeks ‘pun’ brought to you by Richard! The rest of the group had to make do with watering cans and weeding instruments. We spent a good twenty minutes in the garden, making it look loads better and certainly a lot wetter!

Intervals

After a quick picture we set off back, doing some thirty second interval efforts, off thirty seconds rest. Six were completed in total. Even I joined in with these, which is rather unusual as normally I’m ‘camera man’! Richard and Hasnain showed their speed, Emily put in some great work in her first session, Fiona and Kate, dug in well and were very consistent throughout, but as ever everyone worked well pulling each other a long! Top stuff!

Once the intervals it was a steady run back to our starter point. Everyone pretty tired with their efforts, so that means a great job done!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.