Twenty One inspired Hackney GoodGymers ran 4K to the HUG garden on Hackney downs to dig flower beds, rescue the vandalised Williow tunnel and fill the dug flower beds with soil.

On a warm and muggy evening in H-Town it was great to see so many new GoodGym faces both touring and starting out on their GoodGym adventures. The timing of the session could not have been better as we managed to squeeze the group run into the only dry patch of a drizzly day. There were a number of runners with slightly stiff and sore bodies after everyone's magnificent efforts at Run Hackney Half Marathon on Sunday so we eased our way into the session with some gentle mobilisation work to get us all going and flush out the muscle soreness for those that needed it. A few high fives and a skip and a hop later we were on our way on the 2k run to meet Myra at the HUG garden. We split into 3 groups first got to work returning the Williow tunnel to it's former glory after it had been vandalised at the weekend. April showing some amazing core strength to hold herself in the air while digging a hole. The tunnel was soon back to its former glory after some seriously tough work plunging and bashing a pole into the ground to create the space for the Williow to go back into then some overhead knot mastery to knit the tunnel back together. The second group were busy cutting into the turf and creating 6 more beautiful pieces of landscape art or flower beds. The group worked in 3 pairs with one digging the turf out while the the other runner speedily carrying the turf to create some more landscape art surrounding the Williow tunnel with elevated shapes and a tear drop shaped flourish. The third group had their hand full with a 500kg huge bag of soil! The group got a slick production line of diggers and pushers going. With the diggers piling the soil to the Wheel barrows at a super rate while the pushers charged to fill the beds to the brim then stamped the soil down to get all the air out. Even with a poorly barrow the group stormed ahead and finished filling the beds with time to spare after I final push carrying the whole bag over to dump the last of the soil into the beds.

After 40 minutes of top quality action we had completed our tasks and look forward to returning next week for some more adventures!

We said our goodbyes to Myra and then got stuck into a 10 minute circuit blast with one group running while the second group dominated a series of conditioning upper and lower body exercises then switching when the lead runner returned. Seems like the half marathon has had only a very positive running effect on Clare as she stormed the running section leading her group powerfully back each time.

After the big energy expenditure of the circuit we had chilled 2k run back to base lead brilliantly by Chris B where we rounded the session off with a series of static stretches.

Obviously after monumental efforts of Sunday a celebratory evening out was in order so was great to have 15 of the crew head out to our favourite Tuesday refuelling venue for a well earned feed.

Look forward to seeing you all again next week for another addition of running fun! Please sign up here.

Stay Silky Smooth

Joel

Twenty Two amazing Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to clear Daubeney Fields of Rumble, Rubbish and other random Fly tipping.

On a Beautiful Spring evening in H-Town Team Hackney were out in Force. We split into two units to help navigate through the streets of Hackney, led perfectley by Hackney task force members Cecilia and Clare.

On one of the longest runs of the year we kept a smooth and steady pace as we discovered a some new parts of Hackney as well as got a reccy in of the first mile of the Hackney Half marathon.

Once we got to Daubeney Fields to meet Bruce The Parks development officer and his team from Hackney Leisure and Green Spaces. We gloved up and got our grabbers, split into 2 pods and attacked everything we could find! We found the weird and wonderful from bones to carpet, fencing to footballs doors to debris and a never ending mountain of rubble!! We also had a treat with DJ Pat in the house spinning some 90's tunes while putting a revolving door of runners through there paces with a quadruple circuit to really work on our physical preparation for running the longer distances in the lead up to our spring races. Patrick had everyone's conditioning really tested in a fun and diverse series of session great job DJ P 💪🏾💪🏼💪🏽

With TLC's Waterfalls blazing on the decks the rubble flowed down to the van at such a rate that the van it begged for mercy from the weight! After 35 minutes of action we beat the darkness coming in to clear all the area of all the very best random rubbish you could imagine and totally fill all the van and buggy, great job team 👏🏾👏🏿👏🏽👏🏻. With the huge thanks from Bruce and his crew we got on our was with the legendary Chase back to Base with a final leg blast for team Speedy at the park the Sexy crew started out on the 3k run home throwing in a few leg blasting exercises along the way but we were no match from a monstrous performance from the Speedy crew lead by Task force member Jack but spearheaded by a super human running performance from Patrick. 🏃🏽🏃🏻🏃🏃🏿

With a few stretches and a huge round of applause for a great Team Hackney group run we said our goodbyes and headed off into the night!!

Next week we are double tasking at The Food Groweres Group in Dalston and Flyering at St Luke's Church please please sign up here for some more fun on a Spring run.especially important on double task weeks so please let me know you are coming!!

Until next week,

Focus, run Smooth and Silky

Joel

Thirty One yes 31 Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k to shovel tonnes of compost at the Rhodes Estate Food Growers group and clean the outdoor play equipment at Gillett Square.

On a fresh and breezy Hackney Evening Team Hackney were out in force! A new GoodGym attendance PB for me of 31, what an awesome turn out well played 👏🏽👏🏾👏🏻👏🏼👏🏿.

It was a very special evening as we had some double task action and some amazing visitors from the wonderful athlete connecting platform of Strava.

We took to the streets Lead by Clare on mass heading towards the beautifully lite warm up area by the Hackney Council offices, where we got to work mobilising those key running joints with a series activation drills to get us nice a warm and ready for the fun ahead! After some brilliantly balanced hip circles and leg swings we got into Hokey Cokey formation and Lunged Squatted, hopped and Jumped towards and away from each other.

With our legs pumping after some big time jumping we were lead through H-Town by another of the brilliant Hackney TaskForce team Cecilia who navigated the Squad just over 2k to our tasks in Dalston. We dropped of King Kev's compost crew for their task in Rhodes Estate Food Growers Group Before turning the corner into the Urban Amphitheatre that is Gillett Square.

We were met by Clarrisa who was excited to have Team Hackney along for the first time! We got straight to work splitting into 2 teams, the bulk of us unloading the colourful oversized outdoor play equipment from a huge shipping container. While 4 arty types began to restore the information board by cleaning and painting it, taking extra special care of the intricate lettering. The play equipment came out quick while there were a few bucket filling sprints to bring over the warm soapy water and cleaning kit. We got to work systematically cleaning the array of play equipment giving the weird and wonderful shaped apparatus names as we went, the "Cones" proved to create the most varied assortment of names (let's leave it at that). With photographer Kate clicking away to get some great snaps we got into a production line, cleaning and re loading the equipment back into the container at speed ⚡️⚡️🔥🔥. With the notice board re painted and looking gleaming in white a last push saw the equipment stashed away. 35 minutes of epic action and top job done by all!

Meanwhile the Compost crew were hard at work! Kev and the guys shovelling like crazy filling a big transit van fun of compost at a astounding rate!! 15 minutes of speed shovelling saw the van filled to the brim! Then came the glitch in the plan!! As the van drove around to the other side of the estate there was a Dalston traffic jam to contend with!! The Compost crew made up the time and even had to shovel the compost right to the back of the raised beds to add to the difficulty. To dominate a tough task in record time! A little late for the laps Kev lead the guys on a speedy 3k loop back to base to round off the evening!! ...

After a heartfelt thank you from Clarrissa we were again lead by Clare down to the World Famous De Beauvoir Track for Four of the hottest laps in town 🏃🏿🏃🏃🏽🏃🏻. In pairs we hammed a first lap with Walking Lunges thrown in then two tempo paced laps broken up by Tuck Jumps and Jump Squats before we High Skipped into a Max Power final lap which saw some Top quality effort and performance 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿.

We then ran the 2k back to base including a final sprint finish to round of an excellent evening of GoodGym action!!

After few static stretches and huge round of applause for some top quality effort we headed home for a well earned feed.

Next week sees the Last GG Hackney Dance of King Kev before he leaves us for pastures new in the West Country. Please sign up hereand come along next week to rip up a barbershop Floor (as you do!) afterwards we will after much debate be heading to the Weathspoons on Mare Street for a Drink and Food to see Kev off in style. See you there!!

Powerfully Smooth

Joel

Fourteen amazing Team Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k to and from the Wilton Estate community garden to turn over the soil in the Paddock and remove some really clingy Roots.

On a not so Spring like March evening Team Hackney were ready for action! We met ask usual at the Bakehouse before speedy off into the night to our warm up track behind the Town Hall. Where we got our key running muscles and joints mobilised with a series of exercises to enable us to dominate our second instalment of our Plyometric training block. Plyometrics have been shown to improve runners Balance, Power, Strength and Flexibility so a really good way to getting us well on our way towards our running and fitness Goals. We had a special Super Set action going on with first multidirectional both single and double legged hops straight into some brilliantly executed lower body strength exercises. We hopped both high and long and we squatted and Lunged strong. After 15 minutes of pulsating leg action we were ready to roll. We were lead to the task expertly by Cecilia who navigated the streets of H-Town perfectly. We met Debbie and Lisa at the ever expanding community garden to gave us the tools for task success. Armed with Hoes, forks, spades and some lean mean Mattocks we split into two units and went into battle. Unit one hacks away in the dark corners of the garden and some of the most determined roots around but hey were no match for Team Hackney's might and the Mottcks proved their worth to remove all the roots for the soon to be raspberry patch. Meanwhile with DJ Pat spinning the illuminated Decks the Paddock's soil was being turned over at a majestic rate. The pace increased as the first unit came to add their force for a final push to task glory. 60 metres of soil turned over to allow some beautiful wild flower planting over the weekend means a job well done 👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻. Debbie and Lisa thanked us for our efforts and we split into the familiar Speedy and Sexy groups for a game of Chase back to Base!!. Team Sexy started with a 4 minute cushion on our 3.4k run to base, with an ever improving band our runners it would require a Herculean effort for Team Speedy to catch up but with some real tight lines run at the front by the the Speedy Leader Cecilia the ground was being made up with every stride. As we entered Broadway market Team Sexy could not hold them off any longer and after a super sprint finish everyone was was applauded in after giving their all great running Team 🏃🏽🏃🏿🏃🏻🏃.

As few cool down stretches and a reminder about all the options for running and volunteering at Hackney Half Marathon we were on our way after a great Tuesday night GoodGym fix.

Next week we are Double tasking at Gillett Square and with the Food Growers Group so please please come along, bring a friend! We have a few Super special guests from the amazing training platform that is Strava as well as a huge treat for the Sexy crew as they will be Super smoothly lead home by GoodGym founder and all around top guy Ivo. Please please sign up here

Until next week,

Smoothly cruise into your half marathon training

Joel

15 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to the wonderful Gascoyne Estate community garden to fill raised beds, move a mountain of wood and create an emergency fire truck access for the neighboring day nursary.

Lovely to see a GG newbie starting out on the road to Goodness, as well as a few returning Team Hackney members who we have missed for a few weeks and our beautiful regular runners repping hard as usual.

We had a new lead runner this evening Clare who did a great job of shepparding us through the main, the back and side streets to our warm up area and then around to the task. Well done Clare hope to see you back leading the tribe very very soon! 👏🏻👏🏽👏🏾

We had a warm up with a difference this week, continuing on our strength phase of training we wanted to really toughen up are key running muscles in our core and lower limbs. So inspired by the NBA all star game I went oldskool and back to my basketball coaching days 🏀🏀🏀, getting into a half squat we did the line drill moving in every direction possible, grabbing rebounds, diving to get loose balls on the floor and working those fast feet all in a half squat and with our hands defending the passing lanes. Obviously this was not enough for the now legs of steal ⛓⛓⛓ Team Hackney so the Team begged for more and we jumped into a Lungeathon where we lunged in every direction continuously for a minute with a controlled eccentric calf raises as an active recovery then repeated 💪🏼💪🏻💪🏾 We knew the legs had taken some punishment as the first few strides of the run to the task there was in unison a collective grown!

We ran the 2.5k to the task to meet Varda, and we set to work uncovering the raised beds by removing wooden palettes and rocks which help to keep the foxes out. We then started shovelling mounds of soil to top up the beds, we were going so hard at it the wheelbarrow couldn't keep up and decided to go into early retirement. But on we charged, filling up 15 flower beds with soil. Then we employed the devastatingly efficient Daisy Chain 🌼🌼🌼 to move tones of wood to make make a perfect insect habitat. The insects are vital for the health of the garden and the new log habitat will give many insects a nice new home. 🐛🐌🐞🐜🕷🐝.

It was all hands on deck for the final phase of the task where we cleared a direct path for a fire entrance to a neighboring children's nursary by separating a huge mound of wood chip and soil then freeing up a perfect path to the fire entrance. 🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒

In 40 minutes of fun filled, super productive action we had showed how great Team Hackney are and Varda and the rest of the Gascoyne Estate community garden team were extremely greatful. Everyone is super excited to get more great work down on a Tuesday evening very soon on the Gascoyne Estate.

We headed back towards base aiming for a 2k steady run after our earlier leg exploits but out the corner of our eyes we saw something too intising to ignore. Victoria Park had a special preview of their night running track so we nipped in and had a sped out and back on the amazing pschyodelicly lite up track to add another 1.5k to the run. There will be structured running groups running in Viccy Park for the next few days, check info. We will try and return next Tuesday to have another go!

Hope to see you all next week when we return to Wilton Estate for some serious cutting action!! Please sign up here.

Until next week

Lunge smooth

Joel

Great to get stuck right into a new task tonight! Showed how we roll b