Before setting off we celebrated the achievements of all of those who took part in the Ipswich Twilight 10k on Friday.

A fabulous event for the town with huge support all around the route. The heat made it challenging for runners but thankfully it had cooled down a little by the time we got under way. Congratulations to Lesley on her 10k PB and all those Goodgymers who ran - particular kudos to Tom for running in his Goodgym shirt!

We also welcomed Emily who was joining us for her first Goodgym run in Ipswich, although she had previously run with Goodgym in London. Emily was also joining us for the purposes of writing an article on Goodgym for the East Anglian Daily Times.

Tonight our task venue was as close as it could get to our start point being only a couple of hundred metres away. Naturally we set off in the opposite direction taking a roundabout route including a lap of Alexandra Park.

Arriving at the Survivors in Transition centre it was all hands in grabbing vaccum cleaners, polish, cloths, glass cleaner and hot water to give the place a thorough clean.

The centre is located in a beautiful, old Waterfront building. It is huge, with a maze of rooms and narrow stairs. It is also and interesting building with old features, beams etc. Everyone was sent out to the far reaches of the building to make their way back towards the main lounge as rooms were completed. It didn't take too long for the cleaning team to gather again and after a couple of team photos we were off along the Waterfront again.

The fitness session involved a little bit of "seeding" by way of an individual time trial prior to pairing up for "paarlauf" relay, with the boats and waterfront providing a wonderful backdrop on a warm evening. Great running by everyone - putting in good stints on the effort phases. I'm sure there was demand for more laps at the end ........ before a final jog back to base and stretch ended the evening.

22 runners paint, dig and squash bugs for Lambeth, then run up some hills

It rained on Tuesday. A lot. Massive kudos to all those who made it down to the Lambeth run, where the rain stopped and the sun came out for a lovely evening session.

We celebrated all that was great about Race the Horse over the weekend, then split into two groups. Both had about a 2 mile round trip. One towards Loughborough Junction and one to Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses.

The Loughborough Junction lot did a solid job painting railings for Southwell Road Resident's Garden. Over at the greenhouses, we split into four teams. One turned over compost. Another wheelbarrowed woodchip across the site. Group 3 dug very thick clay mud out and the last group SQUASHED BUGS.

That's right, we killed greenfly in the name of community horticulture.

Taking advantage of Brockwell Park, we then ran a pyramid hill session. Nine 30 second runs up the hill at increasing speed, with number 5 being the big one, then slowing it back down again for the last 4.

How much do you hate me? Katie asked Leisha at the top of the hill. I LOVE YOU, said Leisha

That conversation is FACTUAL. People really do like running up and down hills. Who knew?

Then it was back to base as the last of the sun went down. Perfect.

Nine dynamic GoodGymers ran 3k to help the Hackney Downs HUG garden move 5ish Tonns of soil and wood chip.

To round off an amazing National volunteer week Team Hackney enjoyed a Super Starter session to help the Hackney Downs User Group (HUG) to continue their great work creating educational and fun gardening experiences for the under 5's. Was great to see some brand new faces to a GoodGym session as well as a few ever improving runners not forgetting a couple of hard core GoodGym regulars.

We started the session we a dynamic warm up to activate the key muscles needed for the session as well and mobilising the major joints that help us perform our slick and efficient running actions. From there we ran a kilometre around the park at a nice steady pace including a few times around the mini roundabout and a final pick up and dip after a lap of the grass track saw us warm and ready for action. Splitting into two groups we attacked the two jobs with lots lots of enthusiastic energy. The first group got shovelling 5 (well near enough) Tonnes of soil. Using a slick wheelbarrow to bag technique a solid pace was set and maintained. Trip after trip saw the huge bag of soil gradually empty. Balancing acts to keep the soil upright and lots of stamping to compact the soil down were vital in this mission. A final monumental effort to drag the last 250kg of soil to its new home where it can be used to plant all the wonderful flowers and shrubs in the garden.

The second action unit had their work cut out shovelling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of wood chip from the pavilion to create a soft bed for the Willow tunnel Team Hackney had dug out in April. Taking the tough wheelbarrow pushing in turns the group make great progress shovelling the woodchip in and out of the wheelbarrow and smoothing it out to create a perfect base for the children to play in on their next visit. With a final push the tunnel was filled and was great to complete two physically challenging and rewarding jobs in 45 minutes of action!

To finish off the session we fed our legs some speed and played a little game of Lampposting. For 2k of running we run alternately hard then easy between the many lampposts of Hackney Downs, even kicking it in to overdrive for a sprint finish!! A series of revitalising static stretches and a elegant ballet spin rounded off a great mornings Fitness Fun. Well done to everyone and really hope to see you all at a Tuesday evening group run soon!!

Our next Hackney Group run is on Tuesday starting at the E5 Bakehouse at 6:45 please sign up here.

Another way of joining in is coming along to the GoodGym London fitness sessions I run on Thursday Evenings in Central London. All the information and sign up is here.

Thanks to Patrick for the Pun!

Smooth summer running

Joel