A wonderful turnout for GoodGym Lambeth tonight, IT WAS FREEZING. I’M STILL FREEZING.

Still keeping with out New Year focus on getting faster, fitter or going longer, there was a choice of two runs.

Half the group took on the long run down to Portico again ... This meant covering a good 5 miles in total and a nice bit of hill action on the way there. Becca reports…

“A group of us took on the long run up to the Portico Gallery. Dodging the crowds, we made out way out of Brixton and up towards the hill.

In no time at all, we arrived at the big yellow storage company and met John, who led us through the labyrinth of passage ways to the right yellow door. He talked us through the tasks and we got to work. We split into two to get the jobs done- one group moving tables and the other sniffing gazebos (I think I know who had the most fun..)

The first group left the storage place to start the run back. We discussed methods of how to get rid of a stitch (and all made it back without one.) The final group sped back and made it in time for the cake Katie had made for Alex- a glittery masterpiece!” Becca N

The other half chose the shorter run to Myatt’s field to help Guy at Streetscape. Unfortunately this was cancelled at the last minute which was a shame, but it did give people another chance to get in some strength and speed training. We jogged a mile to Clapham Common, where the guys set about 300m reps as fast as they could with a mere 30 – 45 seconds rest before going again. 5 sets were completed before we jogged on again to the bandstand for some strength circuits which basically involved a shit load of press ups and squats on every bench. Everyone looked like they had got a good work out (especially Dan who admitted he’d drunk tow pints before the session… hero) as we jogged the mile back to Papas for Katie’s magnificent cake. It was a bloody great cake despite being vegetable based.

Who knew vegetables could taste so good? I certainly didn’t. Feeling pretty smug that I got one of my five a day through cake. My other portions of the day are from the Terry’s Chocolate Orange I’m currently eating whilst writing this, and the grapes in the wine I’m drinking.

I’m absolutely nailing my healthy January.

Fourteen Hackney Goodgymers run 4K to help St Luke's Church set up, sort out and sand down. On a beautiful January evenening GoodGym Hackney was in full swing on the first of our winter indoor tasks 👍🏽. After meeting at the Bakehouse and getting aquatinted with some amazing GoodGym first timers, we heard about the amazing feats of the Hackney crew putting the the pedal to the metal this week and zooming 💨💨 to a fantastic 534k and 49 GoodDeeds so far in the GoodGym January Challenge. Remember to keep on recording those runs and Good deeds even if you are crazy enough to break your watch! We need everyone to reach the overall GoodGym target and also our Hackney target of 1000k and 100 Good deeds so run long and do good this week 🏃🏼🏃🏽🏃🏻🏃🏾.

We set off in search of our new warm up area and it didn't disappoint, thanks to Google maps we have discovered a flat, bright and covered warm up and drills area just outside of the Hackney council offices (if you are ever late you know where we will be). To to really road test the new area we go going with a series of drills and skills to focus us on producing the most power 🏋🏼🏋🏼 so we can propell ourselves onto to some fantastic PB's and the upcoming Victoria Park 10k. We drove our knees up to 90 degrees we dorsi flexed our feet and as speed is nothing with out control we balanced on one leg with military precision. With this fine tuning to our already honed running techniques we left scorch marks on the pavement with a series of searing change of pace intervals.

We made the short run to St Luke's with expert navigation up front by Hackney Coach run rep Kev to meet Keli who had a quartet of tasks for us to attack! Upstairs we cleared plates, box's and anything else we could see to make additional seating space, Antonia was not happy only doing this she turned into the spider detective 🕷🕷 to protect the team from our eight legged friends. Downstairs precision chair arrangement was in order as geometry skills were to the for as we followed the pictures to transform the church into an amazing play area for the most exciting toddler group in Hackney. While the chairs were being arranged the toys were being brought in at a great pace! Every toy ever invented came in and from the sheds outside to make a race track, building site, story corner and craft studio. Out the back first timer Scott and returning GoodGymer Jack got seriously stuck in sanding and scraping the walls of the toilets in preparation for an upcoming repaint.

Soon after 40 minutes of furious activity and a minute or two road testing the toys we had completed our tasks. After a big thank you from Keli we headed over to work our magic on Stair Mountain where we used our high knee power to powerfully bounce up the 12 flights of stairs then do punishing short stair sprints in pairs. As I offered mercy this didn't seem enough for Hackney's finest who begged for a mini circuit to finish! So begrudgingly I agreed 😜😜 and sets of tricep dips, modified press ups and alternating lunges were being pumped out at an impressive rate. With amazing postural technique being shown we finished off with a super charged leg blast with eccentric squats, pulse lunges to get us fit and strong 💪🏽💪🏻💪🏾 for adventures ahead.

A warm down run back to base followed by a series of stretches finished off a fun and rewarding evening.

Great job Team Hackney!!!

Next week we start the preparations for the amazing Re:Generation festival at the Hive. I have seen it at we have an epic task ahead so please sign up to help make this social enterprise, community integration festival great!!!

Keep it smooth

Joel