Ominous start

It all started ominously. Our planned task had cancelled and the weather looked like it was taking a turn for the worse. However local project The Skip Garden came through with a job. They had a bag of logs that needed shifting. The Skip Garden is a sustainable food project in Granary Square check out their webpage here, and a regular haunt for GoodGym Camden.

Panda sack

When I say bag, i really mean sack. And when I say sack I really mean a giant sack the size of a fiat panda. It was big. It probably would have taken a good 3 or 4 hours for a team of 4 volunteers to shift.

We set about our task with a modicum of gusto passing the logs along one long human chain from sack to wood store. However it all felt a bit pedestrian so we moved to a two line system and quickly kicked into gear. This gave a more steady stream of logs to our 4 stackers, Patrick, Polly, Chris and Hannah, who excelled at the tough task of cramming the logs into a small space underneath a set of stairs.

In 20mins the sack was empty. We had shifted roughly 1,000 logs, enough wood to fuel a wood burner for 3 months* in a handful of minutes. Unbelievable stuff. The Skip Garden has come to rely on us for these sort of jobs and it's great to see we are making a difference.

What's your favourite sandwich? We then had enough time for a bit of serious running. We ran one of my old favourite sessions, The Endurance Sandwich. After much discussion of the type of sandwich it might best represent (fish finger, peanut butter, and quattro formaggio were all suggestions) we started the workout with a 4min interval, running around the 2 parks at the back of Granary Square (417metres a lap as shown on the pic). We tried to run 'comfortable hard'- staying nice and relaxed for as long as possible. After a short rest we upped the speed with 4 x 40 sec bursts, before we attempted to run another 4min effort at the same pace as the first. It was tougher than it sounded and it was hard work to maintain our original starting pace. We all gave it a bloody good go though.

We finished off with a couple of Granary Square exercises before jogging back to the centre for a quick stretch. All in all a lovely evening!

If you're interested in the Mission described by Lucia at the beginning of the run (The Cream Tea Run!) here is how to sign up