Six GoodGym Haringey stalwarts gathered on a rainy Wednesday evening to run 1km to Grow Tottenham.

Just as run leader Sarah promised, the rain stopped at precisely 7pm and after a quick warmup, we were on our way.

Unfortunately upon arriving at Grow Tottenham we discovered there had been a mix up and they weren't expecting us.

Fortunately, Sarah had been waiting for just such an occasion to arrive. With the full attention of the group, not distracted by such trivial pursuits as the donation of time towards communal good, it was time to treat (or subject) the group to Sarah's Running Masterclass, and we headed to the tennis courts in Down Lane Park.

First up was a cure for lazy glutes. Sarah explained that many running niggles or injuries can be blamed on weak or disengaged glutes. She demonstrated how the knee turns outward when the glute is engaged.

The group then did some squats and split squats, and for those with already dodgy knees we did glute bridges and runner's arabesques. Everyone did as many arabesques as they could manage with good form - then homework is to practice it daily adding one more arabesque each day.

Everyone is going to feed back on the state of their bums tomorrow. Sarah predicts DOMs.

These exercises were accompanied by various running drills including running as quietly as possible and helium head. We also did several fartlek-style runs using the tennis court lines as a guide.

Finally, we practiced "running as controlled falling", using gravity to propel us into motion and to speed up and slow down, and the concept of cadence and keeping the same number of steps per minute whether running fast or slow. This is something we got to practice straight away on the way back to base, on the famed cycle lane sprint. That deserved a round of Haringey High Fives - especially when we discovered Rita scored a new segment record.

On our return back to base we discussed community mission ideas for December and future group run task ideas. Finishing up with some stretches, some Veggie Percies and a second round of high fives.

Thanks to Dave this week's pun.

6 runners ran 2 and bit km to help the Grow Tottenham fill a planter and clear up some miscellany.

With dark clouds rolling over, and a few spits, we were hoping the rain would hold off long enough for our run, but still arrive to help the poor parched plants.

With a quick round of Names and Burpees from Pennie to warm us up, we headed off to the Cycle Lane Sprint AND a further 15 press ups, on our way over over to Grow Tottenham. Getting a cheer from Layla from L.U.O.S. who spotted us out on our run!

There we split into 2 groups. One to help sort and tidy a pile of miscellaneous gubbins round the side of the main building. And a second group to start filling a newly constructed planted with soil. But despite the lack of rain, some enthusiastic watering had turned the supply pile quite muddy. This was even more tricky with only 1 wheelbarrow. We improvised with a big bucket and trolly (which needed a pound to unlock!). Each load needing some "straight back, lift from the knees", to get it into the planter.

Pennie grabbed Dave's camera, and ran round taking snaps and checking in us all. Soon we we'd filled 100% (of half the planter) and it was time to head off.

On the return leg, we stopped outside the Cafe Connect for a series of glute strengthening exercises, which should help prevent our lower backs from taking all the strain.

Finally back to base for stretches, and home. Just beating the sudden downpour!

A few new faces this week. Welcome back to Kirsty, who's getting back into running. Big cheers to Gabriella, visiting from Camden, and Toyin visiting from Hackney. And huge cheers to Nurjehan for her first GoodGym run.

Our planned task was rescheduled, but the new task was quite a bit closer, so we took the scenic route there. If you can call the A10 scenic. As a reward for their hard work, the faster runners (and the 2 cyclists) got to do extra wall sits, planks, and squats on the journey too.

Once we arrived at Grow Tottenham, we had a variety of tasks waiting for us.

• Rearranging old speaker boxes to define an outdoor courtyard
• Repurposing old shipping crates as planters by raising on pallets, and filling with compost.
• Recycling old wood, by separating the scrap out, and moving the good stuff across the yard.

With that accomplished, we learned a bit more about Grow Tottenham (formally Grow Elephants) mission, and headed off to the part. There we focused on our Glutes, and thanks to Terianne for remembering last week's homework, tried to stand up without using our hands or knees!

Then back to base for those all important stretches.

This week 7 GoodGym-ers ran 2.5km to help shift soil for Grow Tottenham.

We were joined by TWO GG newbies: Kiki and Terianne (who was just going to the gym and saw us and decided to join in! Go give them both a cheer!

After a quick warm up out front, we headed over to Grow Tottenham, a new task right next door to Downlane Studios (where we were painting just a few weeks ago). A group of volunteers is using a vacant bit of land for a temporary garden project, until the owners do whatever they're doing with it. We had two tasks: Build planters out of the scattered bits of wood and fill them with a mix of compost and soil, which was in two nearby piles, and move another pile of clay-y, stone-y dirt from one pile outside the garden to in between the planters along the edges.

Everybody got to work, moving all the mud around.

We had two teams, with Oisin the lead stirrer in the planter filling team. He was probably getting the most workout of the whole team, as he turned the dirt, mixing the compost and soil together that the others had carried over from the respective piles.

After all the great moving and stirring it was time to say our goodbyes, but not before a quick photo op. I ever got to be in a couple of these, which is always a rare treat.

We then headed over the the park for some arm drive drills and a quick squat circuit. The regulars are starting to get their heads around what their arms should be doing and I think my very helping elbow-to-face imagery really helped the newbies understand what I was trying to teach them. It's one of those things that takes thousands of repetitions before it becomes a habit, so stick with it.

The squat circuit showed everyone that they've not quite cracked glute engagement yet, which gives us something to work on next week.

We then ran back to base, with our regular sprint interlude along the cycle track, before stretching and saying our goodbyes.

Great work team. Don't forget to sign up for the Olympics and Race the Neighbours!