Todays task was returning to Interact to finish cutting back the outside garden and recovering woodchip so it can be laid on the garden paths.

Sixteen runners attended tonight with a very pleasant surprise visit of our master jedi trainer Ken Hoye.

We did a warm up along the walkway from the Mildmay gym and the marvelous Rachel decided to run lead out the group up to the high street with Coronavirus Catherine tail running. (She is clear of it and it was just precautionary after a holiday in Thailand in case anyone was worried!) Once in the high street we split into two groups and did a controlled caterpillar run all the way down to the River Can bridge, then a jog onto Moulsham Mill for the task.

Collecting tools and wheelbarrows we set to clearing the dead wood and digging out the woodchip and putting it into a separate pile for the gardeners to use.

Like a silent Jedi...Ken appeared from nowhere and surprised us with his visit, some of the new members wouldn't know Ken but he was the original trainer for Chelmsford and set up Goodgym in the city...really good to see you Ken.

Task done and tools packed away, the customary drinks and biscuits consumed we headed back to the uni. A stop on the bridge over the river for a 400m "Meet & Greet" session to get the lungs and legs working hard, everyone put in a great effort. Well done.

Back to the Uni and the warm down stretches.

Don't forget to sign up the the Good Friday 10k, places are running out!

16 runners ran just under 6km to Interact for an outside tidy up

We were very glad to welcome Rhiannon this week, alongside some of our wonderful regulars for our group run to Interact. After congratulating Joel on his brilliant achievement of 150 good deeds we set off on our run, with Adam leading out and Rachel stylishly backmarking in a Specsavers hi-vis.

Once at Interact, there was some trouble finding the key to get into the greenhouse. However, after some solid detective work, we found the key to the tools and the biscuits.

Everyone got straight to work clearing the overgrown area outside the garden, working together to cut the weeds and pile them up together. After plenty of hard labour, we tidied up the tools and treated ourselves to the unopened pack of chocolate hobnobs left for us (thanks Susie!). We jogged back to ARU, where I found out that both Isabelle and Davis are running the London Marathon this year, with currently varied training plans. Best of luck to both for your training and on the day!

Thanks all for joining us, see you soon!

Laurie

13 runners took part in this weeks group run, our task was to deliver leaflets on behalf of the BHF (British Heart Foundation) and our chosen streets in Chelmsford were the Avenues.

BHF are in need of more furniture/electricals for the High Street store, hopefully we will have contributed to them getting more donations.

Welcome to Isabelle at her second run with us.

The news this week was a reminder to sign up to the** Chelmsford Good Friday 10k, congratulations to **Kirk for his 5 consecutive PB's at parkrun, looking forward to this week parkrun Kirk...no pressure!

Next weeks run we meet at B&M car park for the run to Kids Inspire.

We headed for the short trip to the Avenues by warming up along the cycle path with walking lunges, bum kicks, toe and heel walks and in the underpass squats and star jumps.

Raring to go after the warm up, the group was split into two with each group heading up First Avenue posting the leaflets through the letterboxes. It was then a Tempo run back down the Avenue the distance is 400m. We repeated this on Second, Third, fourth and Fifth avenues until we exhausted the leaflets.

We then headed onto Bunny Walk but before we returned to the Uni a special surprise of shuttle runs up the footpath to Arun Close, up and back to six lampposts.

Well done everyone, that was a really good running and fitness session.

Finally, a warm down stretch with Andy handing out Haribo's in celebration of his 12 month Goodgym birthday. But I can't sign off without mentioning that one of this weeks sign ups decided to meet us at next weeks task meeting point elsewhere in the City!! Oh dear!!

10 regulars and 3 new runners ran to Linnet Drive to deliver leaflets for the J's Hospice

We met at ARU, and welcomed three new runners to the group: Harriet, Sam and Manali.

After explaining the task (delivering Chelmsford Marathon leaflets for the J's hospice) and asking our regular members to behave normally for the new runners, I took an average group photo (sorry Katie), we did a little warm up, and set off.

With Rich knowing Linnet Drive and its vicinity, he was our excellent leader to navigate there and back. He even managed to pop in and see his mum, who heckled us as we ran past. Russell was keen to back mark, and he did an excellent job. Thank you both very much for your help this evening!

We agreed that the quickest method to deliver the leaflets was to split into two groups, and caterpillar our way down the street. We managed to deliver plenty of leaflets, and of course hope this encourages people to sign up.

For our jog back, we took a slightly different route. While reminiscing about the early GoodGym days, we pondered the existence of our Goodgym Chelmsford founder, Ken, who to many newer members is a complete mystery.

If you would like to take part in the Chelmsford Marathon, or the 3k fun run, or volunteer on the day, have a look at this link Chelmsford Marathon

Thanks to all for coming, and please also join us at the Golden Fleece pub quiz next Thursday, from 8pm!

Laurie

Hi All,

Wednesday seems to roll around quickly so it must be Goodgym day!

First of all, I want to say a big HELLO and WELCOME to Carol on her first Chelmsford Goodgym run. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and hope to see you again soon.

The weather being the perfect temperature for a social run we decided it would be rude not to use it and make our way to Central Park for a spot of tidying up of a flower bed that was in need of a little tlc.

With Russell leading out we set off through the ARU campus and along the high street before turning off into the park ready to get our hands dirty with some good honest work. Charlotte had messaged ahead to say she was running late and as James G and I were going to collect the bags and gloves we bumped into her as she almost dropped her phone. She asked if I could hold her phone in my bag while we performed the task (we’ll come back to that later).

Gloves and bags distributed, everyone set to work picking up rubbish and leaves to make the flower bed look like it should. If you didn’t know, this is on the main route from the city centre and through the park and is a high traffic area. And by tidying it up will make a massive difference to not only the environment but to people’s perception of the park as they use it. Also, its part of our local Parkrun route and you can be proud as you pass it on your victory lap. Bags full and conversations flowing we finished up, took the them over to the park ranger’s station and then it was time for some “fun”.

Seeing as the weather was lovely it would be great to do a Fartlek session. For those who don’t know, Fartlek is a training method where you change your speed during the workout. The idea is to raise the heart rate then lower it during an “active recovery” before raising it again. So, setting off in 2s, jogging first, then a walk before a steady run, until the final sprint back to where we started and then to repeat. The idea being that at the end of the sprint your heart should be in your mouth and then by the time you have finished the walk you heart rate should be back down again. You all smashed it and I hope you use it in the future for a change up in your runs.

With hearts pounding it was time to set off back to base, Charlotte having parked her car in the opposite direction we said goodbye to her and set off towards the ARU. As we approached the train station, I realised that I still had her phone and a sudden panic set in but luckily Anton was there and knew of a way to contact her. As he was doing so Charlotte came sprinting around the corner shouting that she needed her phone. Sorry Charlotte, but think of the session you just did and feel proud of it. ;-P

We arrived back at base and stretched off after a lovely evening spent together, a tidy flower bed and a great Fartlek session.

WELL DONE EVERYONE and might see some of you at Parkrun this weekend

RUN HAPPY

Rich

Hi All,

After a week of scorching heat there was a little shower to cool things off for our weekly Goodgym group run. That was before we set the streets alight, blazing a trail through them.

Tonight’s task was to go to Broomfield allotments and help turn over a plot for an older gentleman who wasn’t able to tend for it at the moment. With Joel leading the way and Catherine back marking we were there in no time to meet Sue who had tools and gloves ready for us.

With everyone getting stuck in we forked, raked and weeded the plot in no time and turn the soil ready for some planting.

A job well done we were about to set off back to our hub and this is when I explained what tonight’s fitness session would be.. Race Planning…

Race planning is essentially a way to take the stress and worries out of race day and help you focus on what you want achieve.

With this in mind I set the course of starting at 5th Ave and snaking our way back to 1st Ave thinking about 2 things. 1st was to think “what do I want to get out of this?” and the 2nd was “how am I going to do it?”. Whether it be that you want to do it as fast as you can or feel strong all the way to the end or even just to finish with a smile, it was your choice. Then to decide how you would do it and what plan would you put in place.

So, we jogged to the top of 5TH Ave and then set off on our “race”. With everyone really putting in a good effort and plenty of hearts pounding by the end it was time to introduce the final part of the exercise, to review it. What worked, what didn’t, what would you change for next time, etc.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed it and feel that it is something that could be helpful for them for any upcoming races they have planned or even just some structured training (this is essentially all that structured training is) With a slow jog back to base we stretched off and chatted about our upcoming weekend.

Have fun I whatever you get up to and see you all soon

And remember, Run Happy

Rich

Fifteen runners attended tonights group run, this is a significant increase on previous weeks which must mean the summer holidays are closing down to a finish. Although, tonight was a very nice warm evening with late sunshine dappling our run out to our task. The task was to finish off painting at St Johns Church hall in Moulsham. Fourteen set off with some warm up exercises with Richard E leading off and Julie tail marking, before we knew it we arrived at the top of the high street and set off on two caterpillar of seven runners each, giving some amusement to the drinkers and eaters along the high street. As we reached the church hall our local 'Ironman' Rich W was waiting for us, Rich swam, cycled, ran in that order at the weekend in Copenhagen completing his first but not last, Ironman...well done Rich! Now we were fifteen! So we all got stuck into the task, broke open the paint and brushes. Joel and Charlotte scrambled up ladders and stood on the worktops to reach the high places. With rollers and paint brushes in hand short work was made in painting the kitchen Time to clean up and pack away was soon upon us, after locking the hall Richard E led us off into the park to do a short Pyramid session, as Rich W is on a recovery programme he had the honor of blowing the whistle for the session, 1-2-3-2-1 minute efforts with 30 second rest inbetween. Catherine & Jenny left at this point as they had run out of time. The girls, Laurie, Julie, Katie, Charlotte went clockwise around a 500m section of the park and the boys - Andy, Anton, James, David, Doug, Richard, Joel went anti-clockwise hi-fiving as they passed each other. Blowing the whistle wasn't too taxing for Rich and he coped admirably!

After the session finished, a quick photo call and then the run back to the University, we said goodbye to Anton, Charlotte, Joel & Doug (four) at the station, David, Laurie and Katie (three) at the Police Station. Which left Five of us on the last leg back to base.

It's all about the numbers!

14 runners ran 4.6km to Interact to clear up for their garden party

While we waited for everyone to arrive, James C reminded us that it was GoodGym Chelmsford's 3rd birthday this week, and we were all so disappointed that no one remembered to bring cake. To add insult to injury, no one offered to lead out.

We didn't need much of a warm up due to the hot evening, so we had a photo and set off. Susie greeted us at Interact, and for once we had all been before, so she got straight to biscuit packet opening, and then told us about the two tasks for our visit.

Rachel, Charlotte, Fay and David felt that their skills were in organising and cleaning, so they helped Susie to clean and re-organise the kitchen units. An additional task was to sort out an inventory of plastic tableware and mugs for the garden party, which Fay completed beautifully.

The rest of the group were feeling beefy so they set to work moving bricks and shingle outside (particular well done to Jenny and Rosie for offering to be the strong women). Once all the shingle and most of the bricks were moved, everyone else came in to help out in the kitchen to get it finished for Friday.

Interact's annual garden party is Friday 26th July (I got the dates mixed up) 3pm-6pm. There will be an afternoon tea, provided by M&S, so please let us know if you would like to go and we can tell Susie.

Well done everyone, and thanks for coming along! See you soon.

Laurie