13 GoodGymers ran some super speedy relays and worked on their running form in a tip top Fitness 4 All session.

Starting the evening with a dynamic warm up to get the specific running muscles activated and loosening up the working joints. We then honed our running form working on body position, cadence and knee drive running up the Highbury Mountain!

Once our form was on point we swiched to continous relays where in teams of 3 we worked through the gears starting off in Gear 2 (10k pace) for 4 minutes, then to Gear 3 (5k pace) for 4 minutes, cranking it up to Gear 4 (1 mile pace)for a scortching 4 minutes of action before warming down back at Gear 2 for a final 4 minutes.

Great to see the huge effort put in by everyone, changes of pace between the gears and loving the hand stinging high fives!!

Hope to see you all next week! Sign up here

Session 1 of Fitness 4 All Islington got underway with 15 enthusastic runners taking their running journeys to the next level!

Great to see so many varied and interesting running goals beig trained for! Along with some GoodGym first timers we had a few regular GoodGym runners to sprinkle a bit of GoodGym experience into the group.

Starting with a dynamic joint mobilising warm up to get our minds and bodies prepared for the session as well as introducing some of the key core FUNdementals of running technique. With perfect knee drive and foot postion on show we moved into some ever important form drills to put our core skills into action! Skipping high, long and like you were bck in the playground got up pulses pumping. Before we worked on some Physical preparation and balance skills and finished off the session with some pacy intervals dominating the Highbury Hill with some excellent changes of direction!!

Great to see you all, hope to see you again next week!! Sign up here

Smooth stepping

Joel

A crew of 12 ran an amazing 7.5km in 40 minutes up to Surrey Docks Farm to help sort out some overgrown flowerbeds.

Creative license over distance was unintentional but panned out well as everyone absolutely nailed it!

The last few weeks have been all about weeding and people being able to finally plant things that won't get frosted to death. This week was no different. Aside from all of the animals, the epic run and the delicious sunshine. And did I mention the babycham bucket?

Our group assembled and welcomed Amy along for the first time. Gorgeous sunshine in Peckham meant that we were bobbing and weaving our way up Rye Lane a little but made it clear in no time. As Beth mentioned, it felt like a mini tour of some other tasks at Peckham Platform and Galleywall Nature Reserve but onwards we went. All the way passed Surrey Quays Station and towards proper docklands areas.

We were welcomed to Surrey Docks Farm by Gemma who promptly got us water as it was such a warm and lovely night. She showed us some of the animals there, a calf who was born in October, pregnant Esther the pig and some very, very cute lambs. After we'd gotten over the sight, we set to work clearing some overgrown flowerbeds that are to be raised and used for community allotments. This is as well as making the unused areas less of a buggy runway and more engaging and nice to look at.

The farm is used as a learning experience for children and to engage the local community. It's a welcome sight in the shadows of Canary Wharf and the hustle of the city.

We cleared mint, potatoes and lots of nettles as well as some hefty rocks and made progress, as ever, in no time. Well before we wanted it to be, time was up and we got a quick feed in with the pigs and the calf.

Sun setting, it was time to race down Rotherhide New Road for some to run the full distance and others, taking a leaf out of GoodGym Westminster, to catch the overground back to Peckham.

Luckily, we made it back at not too dissimilar times ready to stretch off and discuss food.

For the second ever GoodGym Southwark social, we were meant to be off to Forzawin but due to our massive and wonderful group, we ended up on a table hunt and found just the thing at John the Unicorn. Beth and Michael celebrated by being the first people to ever order the Babycham bucket. Despite the suggestion, I'm not sure babycham will become a 'thing' for us to have everytime but it's always good to have a throw back. Menu aside: Salted shortbread is not the one

Well done runners. That was a lovely evening well spent and excellent effort on the distance covered.

With regular Camden trainer Paul “PB” Bown off performing in Les Mis (that’s right, isn’t it?) , Simon from Islington popped over to say hello tonight.

It was a quick getaway for the first group of Camdenites who were ably led by Becky and Pritesh to go and help make some beds at the homeless shelter in Goodge Street (as in sheets, not constructing the frames or anything).

For the last time this winter we headed to the American International Church to help Stephanie make beds for the homeless. In total only four beds needed to be made, testament to the work that the churches have done to help re-home those that have needed their help over the winter. With only a few beds needing to be made we also helped set the dinner table for that evening. This gave us a chance to show off our napkin origami with Becky being particularly skilled at making mice! Hidden talents everywhere! With that done we said our final goodbyes to Stephanie who is heading back to the USA and then headed off to join the group at the foodbank!

The rest of us – including first timer Nathan - had a little more time on our hands and did a nice warm up including a quick go at a couple of Running A- and B-drills before putting our new technical skills into practice with a few speedy strides.

Polly led us over to Chalk Farm foodbank where we were met by the lovely Adrienne who explained that our job for the evening was to collect crates of grub and affix different coloured stickers to each item of food according to its expiry year. There seemed to be a lot of cereal and breakfast food (or maybe I’m just saying that cos it makes the run report title easier). I don’t think any of us realised how tough it is to find the best before date on a lot of these packages. But we managed it and got through the whole lot. We were helped by the bed makers who finished their first task super speedily and joined us not long after the first group arrived.

Before hitting the streets for the journey home we took advantage of the carpeted floor and did a bit of core work. There were supermans, press ups, burpees, calf raises, split squats and a little bit of core-dination at the end.

For the trip back we split into two groups with Pritesh and Becky taking a longer route via recycling bins to drop off a few bits and pieces and Simon and Polly taking a more direct route and playing a little game of secret surges.

As we had a nice stretch back at the centre the new Camden “Top Tip of the Week” feature was introduced. This week the advice was to not waste money on expensive protein shakes. A blend of 500ml of milk, 50 grams of skimmed milk powder and 50 grams of milkshake powder will provide a nutritionally equivalent supplement for about a fifth of the price.

See you at some point in April, Camden. A pleasure as always :)

Simon

We ran 10k to Ha Ha Road in Charlton last night. In the wind and rain to tidy a dirty stretch of road side

The power of Twitter

We didn't have a job this week so in an effort to find something beneficial to do for our Greenwich brethren I put a tweet out asking if anyone knew of any areas that could use a 'GoodGym flash mob clear up'.

We got a response from TheOnlyWayisWoolwich who told us "the Ha Ha on Ha Ha Road is always in need of a litter pick". So we did it...running 5k out and 5k back to give it a bash.

chicken and crisps....a fabulous ditch

The Ha Ha is a former river running alongside the road and though it could do with a clear out, it was leaves rather than rubbish that need shifting. As the rain came down we decided our time on this visit was best used in tidying an equally messy area of the road just up the street. This spot (opposite the hospital) was an eyesore- full of cans, crisp packets and chicken shop paraphernalia. So we quickly bagged it up and found a bin to chuck it in.

We'll head back and attack the Ha Ha in future- when we have more bags, bins and leaf raking equipment!

5k home

We set off home on leg 2 of our 10k run- back to Greenwich Uni. Back was much easier than out, mainly because we ran down rather than up Greenwich hill. We got home by 8.30pm for a quick stretch out of the way of the Warner Bros film crews who had ensconsed themselves on campus. Hopefully a GoodGymer will have secretly strayed in shot!

Tonight's long run was nailed by our intrepid runners. 8kms out and back almost to Elephant & Castle felt like a lovely achievement in all in the mid-week blur.

This time, we met Rob, the volunteer co-ordinator for Cool Tan Arts which is a charity for arts and mental health. He told us a little bit about the work they do, showed us some amazing art and then led us to their store cupboard. We vomited audio visual equipment all over their hall, emptied out archive boxes and used a lift reminiscent of a horror movie to dispose of floppy discs and broken musical instruments. It always seems like we'll not finish the task and then somehow we pull it off. With a minute to spare and time to eat some of the fruit which Rob had cut up for us. The discussion then turned to the best colour jelly baby and nearly got ugly (It's green, clearly) and then we got our legs and minds prepped to people dodge our way back to Peckham. A few of the more competitive attendees had sprint races on the quiet streets and our first-timer, Andy, clearly has some extra energy and pace to burn. We've put him up for the Man Vs Horse Race and he likes a challenge.

As ever, we finished our run with a stretch and discussion over which pub is the best pub to have our first GG Southwark social. Front runners are The Rye or the Victoria Inn. Suggestions please for Wednesday 16th March after the run!

See you next week for some outdoor fun at Lettsom Gardens. We'll be shovelling & digging some holes after a much shorter run. Hill sprints at the end, optional!