Lovely to see you all last night, GoodGym!

Wandsworth, please give a big cheer for our new runners last night. Hello to Alex, Laura and Caitlin - and welcome to the group!

News

It's BACK! The great GoodGym Tooting Common takeover. It's going to be massive (we hope), it's on 17th November and you can choose your role. Sign up here to get involved.

It's a sad goodbye to Tessa who is off for new adventures. Thanks for all your hard work Tessa, we'll miss you in Wandsworth!

In happier news, it's Tom's birthday today - why not give him a birthday cheer! Many happy returns Tom.

While you're there, wish the best of luck to Emily and to Helen and to everybody else racing in York this weekend. We're behind you every step of the way!

Weed did good

Last night we were back at a local school, but not in the garden we had been working in last week - instead, we had a series of jobs to do in a secret garden the children use to grow their own fruit and veg. This is an amazing space that gives the children the opportunity to learn about plants, and as research has shown the benefits on our health of spending time outside, the school believes that by giving them the chance to learn outside they will be healthy and happy.

So after a nippy jog down there, stopping for a few reverse lunges on the way, we arrived and split up into groups to tackle all the different stations. They included watering, weeding, composting and clearing and we cracked right on accompanied by music provided by Chi (thanks!). Half an hour of work later, we downed tools and made our way out of the lovely space, and after stopping for a quick photo, headed for Battersea Park for our fitness session.

Fast fit fun

We had a tough session last night in the park, starting with a pacing exercise that saw us pair up and vary between 50-90% work. We then divided up into groups and took on various conditioning and strengthening drills while one group acted as our running 'clock' . After that, we just had time for our weekly minute plank, before heading back to the BAC to stretch it out.

Next week we're just waiting on confirmation for our task, so keep an eye out here for all the details. See you then gang!

Another beautiful night in Wandsworth, another massive task for a fantastic new community organisation, another fast and furious fitness session smashed!

A huge welcome to all the lovely runners who joined us for their first group run last night - give a massive cheer for Pablo, Marina, Lou-Ann, Sarah and Kay!

Well done to super speedy Chris who raced on Sunday in Richmond and getting not only a 10k but a 10mile PB for his efforts. Great work Chris!

Another massive congratulations goes to the lovely Judith who reached her 50th good deed last night - that's a huge amount of doing good for Wandsworth. Judith, we salute you!

A little reminder about the GoodGym Olympics. The sign up for events is now live! The deadline is the 3rd June, and there are a variety of events on offer, including egg and spoon, a pancake race, 100m, 400m and relays. The entry page has full list of the events and descriptions of some of the lessor know races (including the GoodGym relay, this year's theme is no one gets left behind...think human caterpillar race). If you haven't been to the GoodGym Olympics before it is a fantastically fun day of competition between the different GoodGym areas followed by a social. C'mon Team Wandsworth!

What item always appears in your picnic hamper?

After a rundown of the week's news we headed outside to warm up ready for the run to last night's task at the amazing Caius House, a youth centre in the middle of Wandsworth. While high knees, lunges, twists and bum-jiggling fast feet got our heart rates up, we debated what is the best thing to take on a picnic. While there was a strong booze contingent (wine, gin, tequila, Karen's mixers and Chi's Boston cocktail shaker), there were healthy options with plenty of fruit, sandwiches and houmous, plus of course Ella's essential cups.

Our task tonight was at the new Grub Club, an organisation which helps disadvantaged families get access to good food, nutrition advice and facilities. It was a short run down to Wandsworth Town, where we were met by the founder, Aisling, who told us a bit about her amazing initiative. It was a super organised start thanks to some great prep by Aisling and her designers, so we immediately split into three groups to tackle sanding, painting and rollering. With so many hands, we made light work and the room was a blur of action. Thankfully we were also treated to snacks, including frozen strawberries, fruit bars and even popcorn - 'best task ever', said Jordan!

40 minutes later, we downed tools - but don't worry, we'll be back again to do some more for this important place. Waving goodbye to Aisling and her team, it was just a short hop across the road to the park, where we embarked on 15 minutes of HIT training, focusing on getting our hearts pumping, working our arms and core. The idea behind HIT is that benefits of getting to cardio peaks continue after you've finished the exercises, and with an active recovery between each peak, it's a total body workout. After a short jog back to base, we only had that last hill to tackle, and by the looks of the power behind everybody's final sprint, you worked super hard tonight, team. You should feel proud of yourselves!

Next week it's DOUBLE TASK NIGHT, with half the group going back to Caius House to do more jobs there, and half the group running to empty a local church basement. Two runs, two different distances, double the fun! See you then, gang.

ps If you'd like to find out more and potentially volunteer for the amazing organisation The Mini Mermaid Running Club that Amy was telling us about last night, then let me know and I'll put you in touch.

The sun was out, the beer gardens were buzzing, bank holiday was in full swing. But that didn't stop 20 wonderful runners joining forces in Wandsworth to do some good.

Ladies and gents of Goodgym, please give a massive cheer to Chris, Jaillin, Demelza, Adam and Tim who all came for their first ever group run tonight. Great to have you join us!

And while you're in a celebratory mood, why not say well done to Morag and Beth who both smashed an extremely hilly and scorchingly hot Crystal Palace 10k on Sunday, and to Alyx who has had two consecutive weeks of 5k PBs - way to go ladies!

It was a beautiful evening for a run last night, so we kicked off with a warm up testing our fast feet and coordination skills all while doing a poll to find out the best pizza topping. Wandsworth has fancy taste, with goat's cheese, caramelised onions, artichoke and all the vegetables proving popular. Of course we had no choice but to penalise the Hawaiian voters with a few jumping jacks.

Our task last night was at the Venue, a community centre in Battersea which hosts surplus food events, has a kitchen for making food for the homeless and loads of other great things aimed at bringing local people together. It was a short run of 2k down to the centre, so we arrived in no time at all to find Hadas, who runs the place, waiting for us with cleaning equipment.

There were loads of jobs to do, including sorting the kitchen, toilets, windows and outside area, as well as an epic hoovering job which Frances bravely took on. It's a big place which Hadas alone manages, so she relies on volunteers to keep it clean and running smoothly, and 40 minutes later the place was sparkling thanks to some GoodGym muscle! Great job everyone.

We stepped outside for our fitness session, kicking off with a quick round of burpees. Then came the quad-busting squat song where we all felt the burn, before a quick round of squatshot, which saw Team Up victorious. Half way home we stopped briefly for three rounds of core triathlon, before tackling that last hill.

Well done team, what a way to spend a bank holiday. Next week we've got a fantastic task setting up a community cafe, so sign up here to good and get fit.