25 bold and beautiful Hackney GoodGymers braved the summer rains to run 4K or 6k to The Bikery and brighten up the volunteer areas with a lick of paint.

Great to have a top turnout for the always fun Hackney Group Run. Lovely to see some GoodGym newbies coming to work their magic with the crew tonight! Lots of energy, smiles and high knees got us under way after the pressure cooker that is the dreaded Head Count. A short pulse raiser was followed by some penguin walking, bird walking and a combination of strength and balance improving exercises.

With our joints mobilised and our muscles massively activated we nimbly glided through the Hackney backstreets on the 2k run to The Bikery. We met the super accommodating Mark who showed us around before we split into teams to attack the painting in hand. With groups in the ground floor and first floor bathrooms rolling away in freshening magnolia we had the black board crew creating a blackboard on the wall of the volunteer room while the notice board frame got a striking black boarder. We were then able to create a couple of statement ceiling beams in a striking blue after an epic taping display by Liv and Hadrien. Was great to be able to help out an amazing charity who provide such wonderful work based opportunities to those recovering from mental ill-health. Click here to see all the great work they do.Hopefully next time the weather will be kinder and we can get to paint the stencil on the front of the building.

For the race back to base on Antonia's request the Speedy group set off first and took the longer 4K loop back. While after a last minute tidy up and test of some amazing seeded cookies. The SuperSonic group powered away on the 4K loop while the Sexy crew steadily ran the 2.5k route back. Some pacy running by all the team saw us all return back at the same time, out of breath having really worked hard on a top session. Some weighty bread aided static stretches finished off the evening before the team headed off into the night.

Next week sees us heading to the Caribbean elderly organisation to paint one of their meeting rooms. We would love to see again for another great session so please sign up here. Remember next week is our monthly social after the run where we will head out to refuel after the session, be awesome to have you along!

Have a top week!

Stride smooth

Joel

25 Bold and bright Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Patk Cemetery to shovel, carry, pour, jump on and rake 13 tones of special gravel to create a foot path.

On a oh so rare lovely summers evening in Hackney we had a brilliant turn out to light up the streets and bring some GoodGym shine to East London. Great to have so many GoodGym newbies and Hackney GoodGym newbies aboard the Tuesday evening Running Fun bus. We even had a special visit from Ken the trainer of newly opening GoodGym Chelmsford.

After a never to be attempted again new runner briefing and a not that informative pre run chat (sorry will do better next week). We got jogged around the corner to London Fields and got mobilised and warm with a dynamic warm up before heading out on the streets of H-Town brilliantly lead by Hackney Task Force members Clare and Cecilia assisted by the all important route map print out. Gliding through streets keeping a silky pace we reached Abney Park Cemetery to meet the super knowledgeable Tom who got us tooled up and gave us a interesting history of the cemetery and what happens there today.

Tonight we were starting the processes of creating/laying a footpath on an always hugely muddy path that runs through the cemetery. The idea is to create a path which is useable all year around this no need to walk to the sides of the path. The cemetery is a nature reserve keeping the nutrient levels down on the sides of the paths is key and this will allow wild flowers to grow instead of only brambles and weeds.

Starting at a ferocious pace the team split into 4 teams to get the most possible work done! Diggers, barrow runners, path rakers and path smoother's. The special cement composite gravel was being shovelled at a pace while the barrow runners tore up and down the path tipping the gravel out for the smothers to get smoothing by jumping up and down on it to compact it down then raking it smooth. While the path rakers formed a non chain gang and reduced the camber height in the middle of the path. A super sustained effort with everyone having a go at most jobs saw the pace stay high, particularly from the magic barrow that was being shared between Andreana and Holly. Big shout out must also go to Amy for her jumping up and down dance skills!

After 35 minutes for action we had laid 13 tonnes of gravel and turned it into about a 50 metre stretch of path! Top work team 👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻👏🏿

For the run back Team Sexy set off first on the race back to base, being lead by Cecilia the crew set a strong and steady pace. While The Speedy crew set off 3 minutes later and the Supersonic team lead by Rich waiting another 2 minutes before heading out after finishing off the post task tidy up. An epic race back to base with an impressive Supersonic long cut saw all three groups arrive back to base having completed an awesome run and an quality task!!

A few stretches and silent round of applause rounded off a top evenings Group run!!

Next week we are off to the Bikery for some painting action please sign up here.

On Saturday seesGoodGym ParRun tour come to Hackney Marshes ParkRun. Be great to see you there for 5k timed run. All the information can be found here.

Good luck to Ken as he starts on the Chelmsford GoodGym adventure next week!!

Thanks to Rich for the pun this week!!

Smooth Speed

Joel

Nineteen bouncing Hackney GoodGymers ran 5.5k to Hackney Downs to plant flowers in the HUG garden and clear the Old Park keepers lodge of 10 bags of rubbish.

On a Wild and Windy night in H- Town we welcomed 6 new faces to Hackney GoodGym and showed them how we do things.

We began the evening with a mobilising dynamic warm up where we got our lower body joints and muscles primed for action! We then bust into a series of strength building and core stabilising body weight exercises to get our muscles and joints robust and strong. We then bounced into action with some testing plyometric drills to activate a few fast twitched muscle fibres.

After the action packed start we headed off onto the Hackney back streets weaving our way 2k to Hackney Downs where we met Myra from HUG (Hackney downs User Group). We split into two groups the first began by ferrying watering cans to the garden to soften the flower beds for planting while group 2 headed to the Old Park Keepers Lodge to begin the first stage of regenerating the derelict building to hopefully being a community centre in the the not so distant future.

With both groups in full flow Christmas trees were being planted random single shoes were being bagged up. There were many weird and not so wonderful things found and removed in the Old Park Keepers lodge, a very satisfying task where we made a huge difference in a short space of time! With fence panels uncovering shoes and scorpions while suitcases didn't uncover any body parts but instead more single shoes. A fast and effective clearing pace was maintained and in 35 minutes the whole area was looking virtually pristine!!

In the garden holes were dug and soil was turned while an impressive number of plants were planted to brighten up the garden. In 40 quick minutes all the watering, soil turning and planting was complete and after a quick tidy up we were on our way!

The group chose to run a longer 3.5k route back to base so I added in a few loop de loop missions for those that wanted to increase the pace and distance! Special mention to Chris who was on fire and went on every special mission and lead the group home with a huge sprint finish across London Fields!

As I mentioned Saturday sees the GoodGym Parkrun Tour come to Hackney Downs and with so many of you in great form and fitness it would be great to see you there with many other GoodGymers from all over London and beyond! All the information is here about the Parkrun tour.

Next week we will be heading to Eco Active for a great task in their garden! We will be Digging up bushes, levelling off the ground, topping up raised beds with soil and making woodchip paths with so much to do it would be great if you came along and we had a monster turn out!! So please sign up here.

Silky Smooth Running

Joel