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

30 Brilliant GoodGymers ran 5k or 8k to begin the decorating project at the Open Barber's in Shorditch.

The vibes at GoodGym Hackney are off the charts!! Not only did we have a bumper attendance of 30 runners, we also got in some serious serious training in! Not to mention the 19 of us that went to the pub after to send Kev on his way to Bristol with a smile and a brand spanking new and well earned 100 GoodDeed T-Shirt. 🏃🏽🏃🏻🏃🏿🏃😀😀💪🏻💪🏽💪🏾🍻🍷🍹🍗🍖🍟.

We joint mobilised ready for running action then were superbly led through the back streets of Hackney by Team Hackney Task force member extraordinaire Cecilia. After a 2.5k run we arrived on time ready for action, to help scrape away the old shop frontage and ceiling of the crowd funded social enterprise Open Barbers, where we met Richard who was a little taken back by the strength in numbers of Team Hackney! We split into 2 teams, first team armed themselves with Heat Guns and Scrapers and got to work removing the old paint. The second group went with PTI Patrick and dominated a series of pick your poison exercises which tested all the runners conditioning to the max 💪🏾💪🏽💪🏻.

After a 15 minute burst of activity the teams changed over and continued the hard graft, some amazing high scrapping and some especially impressive Abdominal planks took Team Hackney to the edge!

After 35 minutes of scraping the shop to within an inch of its life we decided that the Speedy Crew had been coasting for a couple of weeks so wanted to really test them. So the Speedy Crew left early, leaving Task Force member Jack in charge of the clean up and the 2.5k run back to base with the Sexy Crew

The Speedy Crew raced off into the night going through the running gears at will, smashing out some Urban Fartlek reps that Mo Farah would have been proud of. We then found our old racing track in De Beauvoir Square and set about smashing our some monstrous changes of pace on our half and full lap hard reps 🔥🔥🔥⚡️⚡️⚡️. After a short recovery jog we through in a few Kenyan Surges along Middleton Road, as we entered London Fields we laid the hammer down and it was every runner for them selves for an all out effort back to the Bakehouse. To round out a 5.5k run back! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Top effort Speedies The Sexy crew cheered us in as they had just got back from their Tempo effort along Whiston road to round off an impressive running evening for all!

As it was Kev's last run and 100th we headed out to celebrate at a local Pub, thanks to the 19 runners that came along it w great to see the social side of Team Hackney coming through especially to celebrate a true GoodGym Hall of Famer in Kev. Kev you will be missed in these parts and please come and see us when you visit the Big Smoke!!

Next week we start a fabulous serious of tasks with HUG (Hackney Downs User Group) so please please please please please (yes I am begging for you both to come and sign up so I can organise tasks for the right amount of people) Sign up here. Want to make it clear I still really want you to come if you forget to sign up but would love it if you did sign up a little bit more xx

Until next week

Stride Smooth

Joel

Fourteen amazing Team Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k to and from the Wilton Estate community garden to turn over the soil in the Paddock and remove some really clingy Roots.

On a not so Spring like March evening Team Hackney were ready for action! We met ask usual at the Bakehouse before speedy off into the night to our warm up track behind the Town Hall. Where we got our key running muscles and joints mobilised with a series of exercises to enable us to dominate our second instalment of our Plyometric training block. Plyometrics have been shown to improve runners Balance, Power, Strength and Flexibility so a really good way to getting us well on our way towards our running and fitness Goals. We had a special Super Set action going on with first multidirectional both single and double legged hops straight into some brilliantly executed lower body strength exercises. We hopped both high and long and we squatted and Lunged strong. After 15 minutes of pulsating leg action we were ready to roll. We were lead to the task expertly by Cecilia who navigated the streets of H-Town perfectly. We met Debbie and Lisa at the ever expanding community garden to gave us the tools for task success. Armed with Hoes, forks, spades and some lean mean Mattocks we split into two units and went into battle. Unit one hacks away in the dark corners of the garden and some of the most determined roots around but hey were no match for Team Hackney's might and the Mottcks proved their worth to remove all the roots for the soon to be raspberry patch. Meanwhile with DJ Pat spinning the illuminated Decks the Paddock's soil was being turned over at a majestic rate. The pace increased as the first unit came to add their force for a final push to task glory. 60 metres of soil turned over to allow some beautiful wild flower planting over the weekend means a job well done 👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻. Debbie and Lisa thanked us for our efforts and we split into the familiar Speedy and Sexy groups for a game of Chase back to Base!!. Team Sexy started with a 4 minute cushion on our 3.4k run to base, with an ever improving band our runners it would require a Herculean effort for Team Speedy to catch up but with some real tight lines run at the front by the the Speedy Leader Cecilia the ground was being made up with every stride. As we entered Broadway market Team Sexy could not hold them off any longer and after a super sprint finish everyone was was applauded in after giving their all great running Team 🏃🏽🏃🏿🏃🏻🏃.

As few cool down stretches and a reminder about all the options for running and volunteering at Hackney Half Marathon we were on our way after a great Tuesday night GoodGym fix.

Next week we are Double tasking at Gillett Square and with the Food Growers Group so please please come along, bring a friend! We have a few Super special guests from the amazing training platform that is Strava as well as a huge treat for the Sexy crew as they will be Super smoothly lead home by GoodGym founder and all around top guy Ivo. Please please sign up here

Until next week,

Smoothly cruise into your half marathon training

Joel

Twenty Four sensational Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k plus 5 laps of De Beauvoir Square to both shovel 10 tonnes of compost and lift shift and order a lot of wood.

On a windy night in H- Town team Hackney were out in Mega Force 💨💨💪🏽💪🏻💪🏾💨💨 to help make Hackney a nicer place to be while getting seriously fit along the way. We got our pulses raised with a short jog to our usual sheltered purpose built (well I like to think) warm up area. Then we began with a dynamic warm up to prepare the body for the energetic endeavours ahead before we started a new phase of our physical preparation with a series of Plyometric drills to increase Power, Strength and improve running Economy. We bounced, tuck jumped, jump squatted and jump lunged our way to Plyometric success before we split into two groups to take on this weeks Double Bouble tasks.

Seven fearless Runners set off to the Food Growers Group in Dalston lead by the superb Kev. Big question is will Kev make it to 100 Good Deeds before he leaves us for Bristol at the end of the month??? Just 4 Good Deeds needed!! Cheer Kev on to his Century of Good!! Here is what Kev had to say about the compost task:

Meanwhile a compost-hungry splinter cell of seven diggers dashed over to Dalston to assist Alex from The Food Growers Group shifting some compost out of the way of residents’ car parking spaces, it having been dropped by the council for use by local gardeners earlier this week. Eager to put their backs and cores to work to the familiar sound of spade-on-London-tarmac the group worked efficiently to 'find the line' while basking in the warming compost steam. Someone even speculated as to whether the emissions might be good for your skin, though the jury remains out on that one. Alex has a tonne of jobs lined up for a full crew and hopes to get us booked in for another visit soon. GGHackney’s gardening skills are in high demand these days!

Thanks Kev! We have another Double task in a couple of weeks with Alex and The Food Growers crew so look out for that one to.

While the bulk of the Team brilliantly lead to the task by Clare to the Hive where we were met by the usual array our alternative activities only found at The Hive. We bolted up to the top floor and began lifting, shifting and eventually sorting hundreds of pieces of wood. We got into the patented Daisy Chain to increase the wood movement pace and got stuck in! Then the call came as help was needed in the garden so 4 brave runners ran down to make pictured Totem poles from a series of tyres. The wood was sorted and moved created space for work to continue on the radio station, a last minute mission to pick up a door languishing on the 1st floor was complete before we set off on our way with a job well done.

We met up with the Compost crew at the beautiful De Beauvoir square, where they have kindly laid a perfect running oval primed for some lapping action! Building on the Plyometric techniques from the warm up we worked in pods of 3 bouncing, tuck jumping, lunge jumping and fast feeting between burning up the track with varying length tempo sprints around the track! ⚡️⚡️🔥🔥🏃🏃🏽🏃🏿🏃🏻🔥🔥⚡️⚡️. After a 5th and final all out lap the Team had produced a monumental running effort well played everyone 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾. We had the small matter of a 2k cool down to contented with which was super safely lead by Cecelia.

We stretched out and congratulated each other on a top fitness effort before 13 of us attempted to get our Pizza 🍕🍕🍕🍕 fill at the local Pizzaria. Unfortunately after a long wait only 9 made it (next time we are going to the pub!). But great to see so many runners growing the Team Hackney community even after the run. ##Top GG Hackney Vibes##

Next week we are getting our Green fingers working in Wilton Estate community garden 🍃🌿🌱please sign up here and look forward to seeing you all next week!

Smoothly Jump

Joel

Caroline Townsend (Taskforce Member) wrote the lovely run report below:

This week we returned for another sequel to Barnsbury Community Centre. We got up to a range of awesome tasks there. Sadly Simon couldn’t make it but Paul flew in (Camden Trainer and ex Islington taskforce) like Batman to save the day. Caroline was Robin for providing biscuits (oreos) at last minute.

On the way we split into two groups; a mega fast group who did an extra lap of Highbury fields and the philosopher’s group who talked about cake. We all arrived at the same time.

At the centre we had a party due to Patrick’s awesome tunes again. We split into 3 teams… team paint, team heave soil and team stick poles.

Team Paint

Team paint struggled to open a paint can and nearly bent a few keys in the process. However, Patrick had a tool kit (his backpack is a TARDIS) so it was opened in the end. The team then painted flower pots.

Team Soil

Team heave soil continued to remove soil from the circle of dirt. We have been working hard on this area for a few months now and it’s nice to see that it’s nearly done. It helps with team stick poles with their work as well.

Team Stakes

Team stake poles, led by Steve, stuck poles into the circle of dirt at specific heights in the shape of an ‘S’. This sounds complicated and it was. They made a lot of noise and sounded a bit like a tribe due to one of the tools sounding like a bell when it pushed poles into the ground. An installation in being put in this space in the near future.

On the way home we split into 3 groups and continued to talk about cake. A few things we heard was cupcake mix served in a jam jar and what would an iced carrot taste like instead of having carrot cake.

Thank you very much again guys for coming. We hope that you had a groovy time.

Yesterday was Frances 50th task. Congratulations Frances!