Last night despite the drizzle and the arrival of Autumn that very afternoon, 32 runners met to tackle two tasks to support communities in Wandsworth!

Welcome to GoodGym Chris, Sarah, Emily, Hazel and Sophie!

We kicked off the night fresh off the back of Super Saturday, where, to celebrate a whole ten years of GoodGym, there were a huge 50 community missions taking place across the UK and over 350 good deeds. Well done to everybody who took part, sterling work!

• If you're looking for a weekend challenge, there are two runs happening on Sunday, both 10k, both free. Check out the last Sunday trail run at Morden Hall Park and the time trial starting from Chiswick Bridge on the same day.

• We also have a longer, mixed pace training run coming up on Sunday 13th October in south London - you can find all the details and sign up here.

It was a two tasker last night, so after a warm up and a vote on our favourite comfort foods when it's cold and rainy (soup, pasta, and all of the chocolate came out top) we divided up into two groups.

Chris' group headed down to the Falcon Estate Residents Association, an organisation set up to improve the lives of local residents, to help sort out some of the planters. Senia, who runs the group, was happy to see so many eager volunteers, and the group got stuck straight in with moving trees, weeding, tidying and other jobs to make the estate tidier. If that wasn't enough, Chris treated the group to an extra long fitness session featuring sprints and conditioning to make up for the shorter run.

Meanwhile, the second group had headed over to Wandsworth Foodbank, a vital organisation which was set up to support families in Wandsworth struggling with hunger and lack of resources. Sadly people are relying on the foodbank more than ever, with a rise of 75% in the past six years. Our job last night was to paint the office , and we arrived to find Natalie, who works at the foodbank and is a regular GoodGym runner, waiting for us with the most organised painting set up ever. With the floor lines, masking tape on, and rollers and paint all set up, we could get straight on with the job. Which meant that 45 minutes later, the task was done! Check out the brilliant time lapse video that Dan, the manager, took here.

If you'd like to help out more with this incredible and vital organisation there are two ways you can do it! Sign up here to help with the biannual stock take. The Foodbank relies heavily on volunteers via physical help, food or monetary donations, to see how you can help local people in crisis here.

We then headed up to Clapham Common to do some serious speed training and then knocked out an intense plank session before we ran back to reunite the group! Great work from everybody. Next week the task is still to be confirmed, but you can sign up here if you're up for a surprise on the night! Until then, run happy.

After a drizzly old day in Wandsworth, it was great to see GoodGym runners bringing the cheer to our Monday group run last night!

• It was the first group run for Beth, Rob, Ellen and Ariane - give them a cheer for being ace!

• On 21st September we are having GoodGym's first ever #SuperSaturday! We will be attempting to have the biggest number of community missions happening across the UK than ever before. There will be a mission going on in every area, and in Wandsworth we will be going to help create a learning space at a Tooting School. You can sign up here to get involved.

After a warm up where we did some coordination and heart raising exercises, we set off for the Kambala estate to do various jobs for the Kambala Cares. This great project is run by residents to improve the life for local people, has strong links in the community and supports local businesses, charitable organisations and community projects to benefit and people in the area. They are a non-profit organisation, run solely by volunteers, and led by Donna who met us after a 2km run with various jobs to do.

While Hanna's team got involved sorting the plants in the secret garden and were soon surrounded by wafts of lavender from the herb beds, the second team were hard at work sweeping and litter picking in the streets around the estate - a slightly less fragrant task given the dog poop - while the third group got stuck into weeding the raised beds. As well as lots of weeds and rubbish, they also discovered other treasure, including a whole bike wheel!

After 40 minutes of hard work we downed tools and headed over to the local park to do fitness. In the spirit of some much needed democracy at the moment, we took a vote between a speed and pace session or a core blast. It was abs that one (just) so we got straight on with sets of 45 seconds ab exercises with a 15 second break in between them, and finishing off with a plank minute. It was hard work, but given how much a strong core benefits your running form and protects against injuries, is an important part of our training. Great effort everybody!

Next week we have a special run as part of the UK wide celebrations for GoodGym's 10th birthday. We've got a great task at a Balham based charity building cots for disadvantaged families, then we'll be having a social after the run. Go on, sign up here to do good and have even more fun than usual!

What a start to the week, perfect weather, great company and a tonne of hard work completed in the name of GoodGym!!

3 new runners joined us this evening and I’d like to offer a huge GoodGym Wandsworth welcome to Ellen, Kimberley and Melanie, go ahead and give them a cheer

NEWS

There's lots going on at GoodGym through August, here’s a recap of last nights news

• The GoodGym Olympics are on Saturday 3rd August and team Wandsworth are aiming to better last year's silver medal. Whether you’re competing or would like to come down and support, it would be great to have as many GG Wandsworth faces there as possible, details here

• For those that cannot make it to the GG Olympics, there is an Olympics National Race which you can get involved in via Strava, all details for getting involved are here

• Next Monday, 5th August is GoodGym Wandsworth’s 3rd Birthday and we’ll be celebrating after next week’s group run with a picnic on Clapham Common

• Anyone looking for a race? The next GoodGym race team event is the Bath 2 Tunnels race which is coming up on the 18th August. The race also coincides with the GG West Summer party, details and sign up here

• 2 new areas will be joining the GG family in August. Exeter starts on Tuesday 20th August and Trafford on Wednesday 21st August

• If anyone has any tales of inspiration from Team GB athletes and would like to share them, please email rebecca@goodgym.org and tell us who inspired you the most and why

DO GOOD

This week’s task was helping at a local charity called Leonard Cheshire Disability, who work to support individuals to live, learn and work independently whatever their ability

So, with building work in progress outside BAC our usual warm up area was unavailable. We relocated to a small car park opposite and went though some low impact warm up drills. Our warm up was cut slightly short when we were interrupted by a slightly disgruntled neighbour who took exception to us being there. With that we swiftly set off for the first leg of our run. We covered the first 1.5km of the night in good time and even managed some wall squats along the way

On arrival we headed to the back entrance of the centre and were greeted by a huge teddy bear guarding the gate. Once inside, our tasks included washing the mobility buses, weeding the car park area, cleaning the windows, a general tidy of the garden area, clearing plant pots at the front of the building and replacing old with new plants. We quickly split into 5 smaller groups and 40 mins later we’d satisfyingly ticked every item off our task list, leaving the buses gleaming, the garden raked and tidy, the new plants potted, the front area weeded and windows shining. Great work everyone!

GET FIT

After a quick tidy up, we jogged a short 0.5km distance over to Battersea Park, where we completed our fitness session.

This week’s fitness required 3 teams, each working through either a run, a core exercise and a body weight exercise then rotation through each of the 3 stations to complete a round. The soundtrack for our workout was provided by some quite interesting park users and 5 rounds and 15 sets later, all that was left was our 2km journey back to BAC, with a final set of wall/fence squats on the way

The night was capped off with a sprint up our favourite hill and Strava segment. Well done to everyone for that final push at the end and great work on the technical running points!

So, we completed our tasks, ran a total distance of 4km, completed a tough fitness session and a hill sprint. Amazing work all round team Wandsworth!!

COMING UP

Next week we head to the Salvation Army in Balham, to help with various tasks, as well as our 3rd birthday celebrations which is not to be missed, sign up here

Have a great week and thank you for all you hard work!

Happy Running!!

A beautiful summer's evening, lot of lovely faces both returning and new, and a task in Paradise (cooperative garden...!) all added up to a fantastic night of GoodGymming!

Welcome to:

• Emily, Imogen, Amy, Natalie, Ashlyn and Maurice, who all came for their first GoodGym run last night!

And in case you need a reminder of the news we started off the night with, then here it is:

• If you're looking for a beautiful 10k trail run then check out the Morden Park Trail Run - every last Sunday of the month in this lovely National Trust park - it's even free!

• We've got an aid station at the British 10K on Sunday 21st July from 7.30am - volunteers get a free place for the Oxford Half, Hackney Half or the next London 10K. Sign up here - today is your last day to sign up so get in there quick!

• Well done to Oliver who did the Shoreditch 10km on Saturday, to all those who volunteered there, and to all our parkrunners too!

After a warm up outside and a quick survey on our favourite breakfast dishes - eggs well and truly topped the pops, but there were also votes for waffles, rice crispies and of course bacon sarnies - we set off for Paradise Cooperative garden, and arrived 2.5km later to find chairman John waiting for us with a list of jobs.

This organisation aims to connect food, nature and people through sustainable urban farming and community gardening, and has transformed an overgrown and derelict site owned by Wandsworth prison into a beautiful space which includes an orchard, poly-tunnels, raised vegetable beds, a fish-pond, bush-craft area and community celebration area with pizza oven and running water. All this takes hard work though, so we are happy to lend a bit of GoodGym muscle!

The first group got straight on with shovelling gravel and woodchip, unloading bags of clay, shifting pallets and logs - all amazing upper body work! Meanwhile, the weeding team tackled the raised beds and paths and watered, while the third group spread the new pond liner and started filling it.

After 40 minutes loads of jobs were done, and John said that we had achieved a month's worth of work for them in our time there - many hands make light work! For all that effort we were rewarded with beautiful fresh basil, carrots and herbs which as well as being delicious, made for an unusual and highly fragranced run back!

But first we stopped at Wandsworth Common to do our fitness session - I had planned one that featured running drills, but the tasks at the garden had overtaken us a bit, so this was replaced by some high octane tabata instead. It was only 4 minutes of hard work split into 20 second segments, but it was tough! The idea is that you raise your heart rate during this time which increases aerobic performance and burns fat effectively. Those frog jumps though...

We finished off the evening with a motivational hill sprint led by Chi, and some stretches back at base. Next week we're going to Harding House, a residential home for deaf people to help sort out their garden. You can find out more and sign up here. Until then, have a week of happy running GoodGym!