We started the evening by giving big congratulations to our Goodgym regular buddies - Lesley, Daniela and Nicola - who all ran the GNR on Sunday. Also to Kerry who PB'ed at the Langham 10k on the same day - Tremendous work!

Tonight's task had a last minute change of venue. We had originally been asked by Danny at Activ Gardens to go to Chantry Park Walled Garden but he had a big job he needed help with at The People's Community Garden - so we headed out along Wherstead Road enjoying a small portion of the Great East Run route prior to the event this Sunday.

On arrival we found Danny and Trevor already hard at work cutting back the hedge that extended right along the boundary road of the PCG. Our task was to help clear the debris, and remove weeds on the path below the hedge. Another job was to trim a willow tunnel inside the garden.

This was going to be a big job! Immediately we all set to work grabbing gloves and wheel barrows to transport the excess to the compost heap. It soon turned into a series of wheel barrow races with Andrew setting the pace running with his fully loaded barrow along the boundary road.

It needed all hands on deck digging out weeds, loading the barrows and brushing the footpaths clear - I didn't even have time to take many photos.

This was probably the most physical task we've done as a group - and due to the scale of the job we extended the time so we could get as much done as possible.

As darkness descended we had managed to make a huge impact, but had to leave Danny and Trevor to finish off the final sweeping. With the task being pretty full on and time marching on, we skipped the fitness element for tonight and head back to base at a steady run pace.

Really great work from everyone tonight!

For tonight's run Goodgym teamed up with East of England Co-op to host a special run celebrating Co-operatives Fortnight 2018

We didn't see any new friends from the Co-op but the task tonight was a shining example of how working together can achieve a lot!

Our destination was the fabulous Activ Lives People's Community Garden, where Danny and his team were beginning preparations for their Big Garden 10th Birthday Party on the 21st July.

On arrival we split into two groups working at opposite ends of the vast PCG. One group began weeding between the flagstones on a pinic bench area and watering plants in the poly tunnels, while the second group headed to the top end to transport and lay bark chippings on a worn path and paint some garden furniture.

The weeding group were straight in with the (surprisingly effective) screwdrivers provided to scrape weeds from between the stones, while Robin, Sally and Daniela took on the badly needed chore of watering. Work was swift and with the debris swept away and picnic benches back in situ, the weeding gang moved on to clearing, sweeping and weeding inside one of the poly tunnels before more watering and then some onion picking.

The "faraway" gang split into two smaller groups Irene, Andrew, Sue and Ashok alongside Danny made huge progress with barrow loads of bark chippings being laid and raked to form a new surface along a worn path. Steve, Kerry and a "topless" Keith made a grand job of painting big cotton reel seats.

The return run incorporated our fitness session with sprint intervals along the far side of the river using lamposts as markers - there was some serious speed as Alex and Andrew led the way before completing the segment and looping backing to pick up our back markers. A final surge at everyone's own speed choice along the Waterfront completed the run home.

So a great task and hot run done! - a reminder of the Big Garden 10th Birthday Party - Danny says we're all invited so make a note of 21st July for a tremendous family event.

What a beautiful evening for a run - and tonight's 5 mile run took us through 2 of Ipswich's parks looking glorious in the sunshine.

Before we left we welcomed Imogen on her first Group Run and it was congratulations all round on performances over a busy weekend including the Friday Five Series and parkrun PBs.

The last leg of our outward 3.5 mile run took us across Chantry Park (home to Ipswich parkrun) to the amazing Activ Lives Walled Garden nestled in the bottom corner of the park. Danny met us and explained the chores for the evening - watering, weeding and some hard core digging!

The Walled Garden grows thousands of plants for Ipswich Borough Council but also hosts visitors from the nearby Sue Ryder care home. the digging part of tonight's task was to prepare an area to make wheel chair access easier. However the area to be cleared was very hard, compacted stones and earth, making it very difficult to break into. Ashok, Heidi, Keith and Kerry battered away for the duration of our visit. Progress was slow and unfortunately we weren't able to complete the job - however Danny was grateful for the impact made.

The more gentle side of the task was watering and weeding around the huge array of plants within the garden - much more visible progress was made here - with barrow loads of weeds being transported to compost.

Our return run route took us through Gippeswyk Park and back along the river path onto the Waterfront with the sun still shining - What a beautiful evening for a run!

A great big welcome to Emily joining us on her first Goodgym Group Run this evening as we headed to Activ Lives People's Community Garden

Before we left congratulations were given to those who ran in the Kirton Friday Five race - the second in the summer series.

Weeding Frenzy

As we arrived at the PCG we were greeted by Danny and Trevor with wheelbarrows and tools ready for a massive weeding frenzy! Danny explained that there were several large beds that need clearing of weeds.

Forks, spades and hoes were brandished and after some initial trepidation, on identifying weeds from the good stuff, everyone got stuck in clearing vegetable beds and around apple trees. Full tubs and wheel barrows were sent of to the compost area.

The PCG is a magnificent area but huge and we could only make a small dent in what must be a never ending battle to keep weeds clear.

Our run back to base incorporated some interval training along the river side and an "own pace" run along the waterfront, with some stretching to close the evening.

Next week we will be seeing Danny again but at a different venue - Find out more and sign up HERE

Last week we thought summer had arrived but this Monday it was like summer and autumn had been fast tracked straight through to winter.

With heavy rain falling all day accompanied by strong winds and the forecast of more rain into this evening we agreed with Activ Lives to postpone tonight's task at the Walled Garden in Chantry Park due to the weather and unfavourable conditions.

However, we did still have a run incorporating a challenging trio of fitness elements. It was a small but hardy bunch who assembled - the cancelled task message had been circulated and this along with a nasty forecast dented numbers!

We welcomed Adeline to her first Group Run and congratulated Sue on an epic bike ride from Nottingham to Ipswich, before setting out. Ironically it had stopped raining as we warmed up with a dynamic stretch routine, before setting of for route familarisation for the first leg of tonight's treble session - a 1km time tri-al.

The route was flat and relatively simple, but best of all the wind would be behind us for the first and last parts. The group set off with the aim of setting a target time for future sessions. A flying Robin was first back just as Keith suddenly appeared having taken a short cut, leading Sue and Adeline astray too ! Tom and Irene weren't far behind having completed the full route!

After a short recovery we ran a large loop to get to the location of the 2nd leg of tonight's trinity - a gentle slope (some might say hill). the challenge was to jog easily to the bottom before turning and running at pace back up again - 3 times. We picked up a friend during this part of the session when a young lad about 11 years old tried to keep pace - he managed pretty well but didn't quite grasp the recovery element!

For the third and final leg of the triplicate session we found some indoor space at our meeting point in the University of Suffolk Waterfront Building. This was ideals for a challenging circuit of core strength and balance exercises. 45 secs for each set with 15 secs recovery - plank variations, squats, lunges and running (wo)man poses - how we all love a plank (specially the shoulder, knees and toes version!)

So no task tonight but an epic three legged run/fitness - kudos to those that made it to the end of the triology!

Hopefully summer will return next week. We have a task with the Teapot Project lined up - please bring a small backpack. Find out more

This evening we started by celebrating the marathon achievements of two regular Goodgymers. Nicola at her first session since completing the Manchester Marathon with a PB time; and Robin who ran, and just about survived the heat of the London Marathon yesterday and was still up for tonight's run too!

Our run tonight took us to the scene of our very first Goodgym Ipswich task - Activ Lives Peoples Community Garden. On arrival we were met by Danny who guided us through the vast expanse of gardens & allotments towards the top end of the gardens where our job was waiting.

Danny explained a bit about the work Activ Lives do and gave instructions on what was required tonight. Two jobs needed doing - to dig a hole in preparation for school children to construct the ideal stag beetle retreat, later this week. We learned from Danny that stag beetles spend most of their life underground as larvae only emerging for a few weeks to find a mate and reproduce. They love to be under soil in among rotting wood which the children would build around and in the hole in a few days time.

The second job was to clear a path around the bee keeping area of overgrown weeds and cover with fresh bark chippings - it was a long circular path and looked like a big challenge for us to complete.

Tom and Andrew took on the digging task while the rest of the team headed for the path. With exemplary team work we had a group moving through clearing weeds from both sides, and a "chipping" team moving along behind them refreshing the path with new bark.

Amazingly the whole path was completed with fresh bark chippings and looked fantastic. This despite Steve working so hard he managed to break his fork in half. We're not sure if Steve was too strong for the fork or he has Uri Geller super powers!

As the path was receiving the final barrow load of bark chips we looked across to see Andrew and Tom disappearing into the hole they were digging for the stags - literally only head and shoulders visible! All this within half hour.

It was quite a long walk to the exit back onto the road where we bid farewell to Danny... until next week when we visit another Activ Lives project. https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-out-in-chantry-park-walled-garden

On the journey back we added a few lamp post intervals to spice up the run, with everyone gathering back at the Waterfront for a stretch before heading home.

A really enjoyable task for fabulous charity done :)