16 melting GoodGymers ran 6k to paint the main meeting room of the Hackney Caribbean Eldery Organisation in Stoke Newington.

On the hottest day of the year we knew we were in for a treat when James the new trainer for GoodGym Redbridge joined us to help lead the crew on the evenings group run. A top introduction speak check and we were off! Lead my magnificent task force member Clare we weaved our way through the Hackney back streets to Stoke Newington on a 3k run. We were all happy to make it to the task before we melted in the 30 plus degree evening sun, we met Natasha who set us on or way to mixing a variety of magnolia paint to make the now patented GoodGym White. A big stir and a frenzy of masking taping we go cracking with cutting in and dominating with the wonky rollers! Being a few paint brushes down we were able to switch in and out of jobs filling holes and sanding walls. We were also rather good at spilling paint! James proved his handy skills by removing the paint from chairs and the carpet with the delicate application of white spirit. With a last minute paint brush and roller reinforcement we had a epic sprint finish to get all the walls a good first coat of paint before our return in 2 weeks.

James and Clare lead the first group back to base while the perfectionist crew applied the finishing touches. A series of expert stretches awaited the group on the return to base and a fabulous Outro from James rounded off a top but very warm Group run.

Then it was time for the monthly social and brilliant to see 12 of the crew head over to the local for a very much needed refuel and as always top notch conversation.

Thank you to Cecilia for the Pun this week!

I will be away next week but have arranged a high quality replacement in Paul GoodGym Camden trainer and Hackney resident. You will be visiting the HUG garden and the unmistakable Myra to start preparations for a big festival on Hackney Downs at the end of August. Lots of digging and watering to lay the foundations for some amazing animal sculptures we will be creating in the coming weeks! Sign up here.

Best of luck to James with the brand new GoodGym Redbridge! If you fancy a bit off GG action on a Monday Evening Wanstead will be the place to be so get along and say hello repping Team Hackney

Have abreast couple of weeks, keep running and sunning

Smooth striding

Joel

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.

17 very sweaty GoodGymers ran 5k to help two Eco Active community gardens by shovelling, raking and sieving our way to glory.

On a tropical night in H Town there was a huge sense of relief that the furious Thunderstorms of the afternoon had subsided. The extra calories being burnt in the almost tropical conditions only added to the awesome workout!

We set off to explore some new Hackney back streets are we weaved our way to the eastern tip of Hackney. We stopped for a dynamic warm up and lower body conditioning after a little pulse raiser. Got everyone walking like ducks on our tip toes before dancing our way through a few rounds of the leg sapping box lunges. Keeping a steady pace we worked our way the just over 2.5k to the Kingsmead estate.

We were met by the guys from Eco Active where we fully tooled up and got to work! 4 tonnes of shingle was no match for the Team Hackney energy! In 20 minutes of incredible shovelling, raking and bag flipping action we had dominated the first task by levelling the ground of the garden so that people with mobility issues can now move freely around the space.

Not content with that the Team raced over to Patty's garden to hear some more amazing stories and sieve away all the stones from the main flower bed, while April got to work removing a very mean looking plant and the Root squad made another effort to free some of the deepest most clingy roots in all of Hackney.

Soon our time was up, aided by some amazing refreshments from Eco Active we ran off into the warm summers night. With the Sexy crew gaining a significant lead as the Speedies carried back the tools the race back to base was on! A top shift was put in by all on the slightly uphill return both groups arrived back almost together!!

A few static stretches and the obligatory ballet turn saw is finish off a very warm, successful and satisfying evenings action!

A lot of talk about races this week if anyone is after a little advise on good races just let me know!

Next week we are off to Bootstrap to get our paint on!! Be great to have you along for a fun task, please sign up here. As a special treat we will be heading out for our monthly social to get a drink and a bite or two to eat. Always fun and be awesome to have you along!!

Thursday sees the start of GoodGym London Running Fitness session in Lincon's inn field near Holborn. Be great if you would like to join me for some fitness fun! Sign up here.

Smooth striding

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

On a light bright Spring evening 21 Hackney GoodGymers ran 4K to the Wilton Estate community garden to perform a variety of physical jobs in the wonderful community garden.

We began the evening with an impromptu task at the E5 Bakehouse with the whole crew ripping and shredding the mountain of cardboard at the Bakehouse to help create a compost pile. A strongly therapeutic task that everyone got involved with and a couple bin bags full of ripped cardboard later the Bakehouse staff were really happy with our efforts.

We then welcomed to the Team some happy new runners for their maiden GoodGym Group run, a nicer evening they could not have chosen. A short pulse raiser to the amphitheatre that is the GG Hackney warm-up area where we congratulated Patrick of a year of monumental GoodGyming, a staggering 183 Good Deeds in 366 days!!! a staggering effort 👏🏻👏🏿👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾. With Hackney Half only a few days away there were many slightly nervous runners preparing for there last few runs before the race. So we got their legs turning over with 4 laps of the Wilton Estate priming everyone's legs with changes of pace between Easy, Race Pace (smooth) and Hard Effort. With the Team well worked out it was time to get to so serious gardening business on the every expanding community garden. We split into 5 pods and got to work weeding, pruning, hoeing, slab laying, water butt building and filling.

With DJ Pat on the decks there was a great vibe on the estate and was really nice to see a few of the estate's residents and their children coming out to join us for a hardworking 40 minutes of gardening action!!

With time ticking we picked up the pace and dominated all the jobs, a small issue with wild Poppygate quickly resolved and an epic Water Butt relay fill from Jack and James it was time to pack away the tools and get ready for some epic Cone Game Action!!

Patrick led the cone action splitting the crew into 3 colour-coded teams. The action was intense and the effort levels were high. A huge shift was put in by all and after a very close sprint relay and a dominant performance in Coney McConeFace Team White were victorious!!

A short warm down run back to base and an in-depth chat about the Hackney Half tactics, preparation and execution saw us on our way home with a really great evening's Running Fun in the bag!

Be great to see as many people as possible on Sunday for Hackney Half whether you're out running, volunteering or spectating come and join the whole GoodGym family for a refuel. All the information on what is going on is here.

Go well on Sunday everyone, trust your abilities and your training! Be positive and give the race your all! Really am looking forward to hearing about all your race stories on Sunday and next Tuesday. Tweet @GGHackney to let everyone know how you went and any pictures.

Next Week we are at the HUG garden for some Williow tunnel landscaping action please Sign up here. As is tradition for me we celebrate our races so we will be heading out to grab a bite to eat and a drink or two post run. Please join us for a bit or a lot of it we would love to have you along.

Until Sunday

Smooth Sleeping, Eating and hydrating

Joel

On a beautiful clear Hackney evening 26 Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k to the Food Growers Group to help maintain there garden or 3k to St Luke's Church to deliver flyers.

We started an action packed evening with a supersonic start! With all 26 runners getting mobile with a series of mobilising warm up drills, some hopping and skipping got us prepared to walking lunge and side squat into 5 explosive flying 30 meter sprints with active jogging recovery. With the legs turning over an a scorching rate it was time to split into two groups for the evenings tasks. 19 runners being brilliantly lead by The brilliant Hackney Task Force members Cecilia and Jack who guided the squad to Dalston to meet Joy at the Food Growers Group community garden.

Here is Cecilia's report; After a smooth run over to the Dalston Food Growers site in Crosby Walk, we were met by Joy, who had a list of tasks for the GoodGym team. She asked that a couple of GoodGymers shovel compost in to two wheelbarrows and manoeuvre them to the cafe site in Abbot Street, as many times as possible, in order to fill some wooden planters in readiness for new greens. We walked over to the cafe, where four Goodgymers donned protective suits and got to work painting the internal walls, others rolled metal barrels of soil in to the courtyard around the corner and then a large group got to lifting/ shifting heavy grow-bags of soil up to the roof garden of the Print House. This hefty work initially involved wheels - in the form of a trolley - but then required manual loading in to a lift and carrying up a flight of stairs. The lift could only take so much weight before the automated voice announced that it was "out of order" (!) so it took several goes. A fantastic team effort, Joy was really pleased with the amount achieved in such a short space of time. The roof garden bar officially opens on the 1st of May. Joy invited us to attend the opening event on the 29th April, where you will be able to enjoy a drink while admiring your good work

While all the lifting and shifting was going down in Dalston 7 runners ran down to St Luke's Church to meet Keli and deliver leaflets about an upcoming course to the local residents on the estate surrounding the church. With clinical efficacy up and down stairs over 500 leaflets were delivered in 9 tower blocks over 44 floors in 40 minutes of consistant and sustained letter box stuffing action! 🏃🏽🏃🏃🏿🏃🏻 With some of the most stunning views over London in our memories we headed back to base playing a little loop up and back action to add a bit of distance and speed for those that wanted it. With the two groups meeting up for some cool down stretches and a big round of applause for two very well done tasks we headed on our way into the clear and beautiful night.

Next week we are running back to meet Bruce and his Team at Daubany Fields to finish off our clearance of the park getting it ready for the Parks authorities to regenerate the space in the coming weeks. Please help we keep what little hair I have left and sign up here nice and early if you know you are coming along. Next week we will be having our monthly social visit to a local eating and drinking establishment after the group run, so please come along and have a drink, get some food have a chat.

Until next week

Have a smooth sunshine filled time

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