12 terrific goodgymmers ran 4k to help the volunteers at Coldfall Woods.

Meeting at the Phoenix, we were concerned that the weather would prove torrential but amazingly it held off. After some quick intros - and a shout for the fantastic looking GoodGym x The Great Get Together community missions this weekend - we set off with Charlotte back marking.

Vicki, continuing her recovery from injury, led Rob on a walk over to the task.

We met Linda by the playing fields near the woods. She explained our task for the evening: we would be weeding around the base of the recently planted trees to help protect the trees and uncover the water pipes used for watering the roots.

Gloves, trowels and bags dispensed, the team got to work. We pulled up weeds, cleared the areas around the trees (dotted around the park) and in a few cases dug out the water pipes ready for watering. This time last year we were running buckets of water out to the trees during the heat wave: this year we were grateful not to be rained on for half an hour.

30 minutes later we had made loads of progress and filled lots of plastic bags. We piled them up ready for collection in the morning and set about group photos. Group photo one: jolly gardeners. Group photo two: posing on top of the spinning disc in the playground. This proved tricky, and surprisingly fast, but we managed to get 10 Goodgymmers on there before the spinning got a bit fast and dismounts were needed!

Then it was time for a fitness session!! This week's focus was on consistent running: we used a circular section of path around 250m in total and, after a warm up, ran a lap to time it. From there, the team had to repeat the lap, aiming to match the time down to the second. We had two attempts: on the first, everyone got within one second of their time. On the second it proved harder: times ranged from two seconds too fast to five seconds too fast. It's hard! We'll be repeating this again in the future: even these small differences add up over 5k, 10k or marathons distances, so consistency is worth practicing.

Next week we have a long run to Friary Park. Look forward to seeing you all then!

D

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