Calm after the storm

Wow! How lucky were we with the weather tonight?! After a day of heavy rain and occasional thunder we were blessed with a sunny evening and what a great turn out it was.

Tonight’s line up was made up of Barbara, Belinda, John, Steve together with second timer Daisy (yay, you came back) Paul, Ros, Gill and Nick. Paula also joined us at the task as did our very own snowflake who did a quick reroute after heading in the opposite direction (of course he did!)

Just as we stepped out for our warm up run the rain stopped, the sun came out and we enjoyed a steamy run along the seafront to Byron Road homeless hostel where we were tasked with some gardening.

Girls rule -boys chat

After the heavy rain we were expecting it to be a rather muddy experience but in reality it was perfect weed pulling conditions.

Paula joined us with a huge smile followed by cake man Jay who powered into the drive. Up to this point all the team had thrown themselves into the task but with Jay now in attendance some became a little distracted with his chatter. Naturally the girls remained focused and on point. This is definitely a case of a picture speaks a thousand words. Check out tonight’s selection of photos and you will see for yourselves! I hope you enjoy John's editing on a couple of them too:)

With a lot of jolly banter the pretty courtyard style garden was soon restored to best. With very few tools available Gill wasted no time in taking possession of the secateurs ( of course) whilst the rest of the team weeded, cleared and dead headed. 30 short minutes later and we headed off for our post task walk, run and fitness session.

Hap’pier it didn’t rain

We headed along the seafront with some lamppost sprint efforts to the pier where the team completed a couple of circuits of it before settling at the south end nearest the sea for a bit of fitness and stretching.

With slippery wooden planks underfoot the team were spared burpees and similar HIIT moves so we settled for upper body chest and triceps press-ups against the railings interspersed with squat and lunge rotational stretches.

Is anyone reading this thinking that I have forgotten something in this report?!! Just checking that you are actually still reading …….. so we actually also did 6 or was it 7 sprints on the spot concentrating on high knees and my amazing time keeping.

Starlings generate more than a murmur – wow!

During the sprints we were treated to several fly pasts together with a landing of a murmuration of starlings. Every Monday night at GG creates feel good vibes but tonight this was an extra special moment. The definition of such a spectacle of birds is as follows

*The bird meaning signifies illumination and empowerment together with indomitable spirit and ability to rise above adversity *

This beautifully sums up my focus on fitness and also the ethos that I like to encourage in group sessions.

I bruise easily (Natasha Bedingfield 2005!)

With the spectacle and fitness over all 3 groups headed back for the short walk /run back to Splashpoint.

We finished with some stretches that somehow ended up in a whacking great bruise for Belinda on her ankle when her foot slipped on the hamstring stretch. At this point everyone thought I had lost the plot when I burst into the above song- ha ha

The evening finished with an impromptu visit to the pub for some of us. Jay was beyond excited shouting out ‘Yes, yes YES, this is really going to happen’ as we crossed the road. I keep thinking back on this. It makes me smile a lot.

And in other news……

Happy Birthday Duncan – we raised a glass to you. We hope that you are enjoying Edinburgh

Congratulations to Barbara on a fantastic transformation on her running style. You have absolutely nailed it. Check out that amazing photo of her on the pier.

Let all wish Belinda a speedy recovery from her achilles injury ( and bruise)

Wednesday 28th August for our Caribbean meal out. Who’s in?

Next week we are meeting at Worthing Leisure Centre and will head back to May Close to meet our friends at Breathing Spaces.

Have a great week team :)

Julia xxx

Seas the Day

On a blustery evening we were very grateful that the early heavy rain had cleared and sunshine prevailed.

Michelle, Steve, Christina, Paul, Ros, Belinda, John, Duncan and Gill completed tonight’s line up.

After some GG local updates and banter together with a fair amount of gentle nagging from me about the importance of keeping up to date with weekly GG communications , the team set off on the 2k run to St Botolph’s church garden.

With a warm welcome from Sue and Peter together with church wardens Rick and Val the team were briefed with our jobs for the evening

Firstly there was the challenging task of clearing an area around the old chapel garden which shrouded in a wilderness of brambles, ivy, bindweed and thicket. Secondly we were asked to scrape and sweep moss off the concrete paths around the back of the church.

Font’astic task

Without our very own snowflake this week we had to make our own entertainment but truthfully the whole team just got stuck in with fairly hefty intensive work.

Christina, Gill and Michelle started with the moss clearing whilst Barbara and Duncan, both rocking their black t-shirts disappeared around the corner to attack the brambles and weeds.

Paul and Steve were recruited by Peter for some heavy work to dislodge a metal barrier gate from the remains of the old chapel which were being anchored by weeds and brambles. With a bit of a heave-ho the obstruction was dislodged so that further work could take place to clear the area so that people could walk around the remains. Belinda and John worked in perfect harmony pulling up the overgrown weeds and brambles in what appeared as if it might be a rockery.

Imagine our surprise when John discovered the remains of a font under the tangled weeds. It even had a space for a plug at the bottom. It is most likely that this is the original font from the 13th century remains of the chapel on the east side of the church where we were working. So in reality tonights task was like an archaeological dig!

We all decided that alongside the accompanying large stone slabs of rock we could make a feature of this area similar to our project last week at The Rowans. This may encourage the community to come and rediscover a part of the history that has been hidden for years.

With another fond farewell and promise to return very soon we headed off for a steady, wind assisted, run back along the seafront past our GG flowerbed. The front group doubled back so that we all stayed within the vicinity of each other before a parkrun sprint finish and the start of our fitness session.

Holy HIIT

With the GG Worthing fitness challenge well under way we set about 2 rounds of 8 moves with 15 repetitions of each. The moves were Inchworms, Squat jumps, Mountain climbers, Inchworms with press ups, hover to plank, burpees, press up jacks, cross crawl abs.

SUCCESS all depends on the second letter

After the first round of the exercises the team looked hopefully at me for the cue to head to the pub but despite some puppy eyed looks I kept them going another 10 minutes with one more round of each move.

With commitment this challenge WILL make you stronger and fitter so what have you got to loose by giving it a try? Every day would be amazing but in reality 4 times a week would do it.

On the subject of success, special mention to John who has achieved his goal of running without stopping the parkrun 5 k a whole 4 weeks ahead of schedule! Lets all extend massive kudos and congratulations to you John. U did it! Now to work on the next challenge :)

In other news

Many thanks to John for reshaping our letter 'G' in the seafront flowerbed. If any of you have any time to do some dead heading so that it can be restored to its former glory that would be much appreciated ( but only if you have green fingers please!! )

Lucy and Duncan are training hard for their ultra-run on 7th September. Both are doing it for charity (Help the heroes- Lucy and Turning Tides-Duncan ) Wishing you both lots of luck for the tough training regime.

Pauls Birthday celebrations have been postponed until we can celebrate Tamsin’s too. How about a Wednesday meal at the new Caribbean restaurant in Worthing (next to TK Max) 14th, 21st or 28th August? Let me know ASAP.

GG HQ asked Nick to write an article to help promote walking groups. Here it is Thank you NRG :)

Founder of GG Ivo did a great podcast. Have listen

Next week we are meeting at Splashpoint and heading to Turning Tides Byron Road hostel and also Stepping Stones in Manor Road.

Hope to see you all then,

Julia xxx

Suns out-puns out

On another glorious sunny evening it was great to welcome newbie Daisy to the group. A fellow runner, parkrunner and triathlete Daisy is looking to combine volunteering with some Monday night running. She picked a great night to come along as the the team were on great form tonight.

The first person I saw was Ros . I greeted her with great delight as we had missed her ! It was short lived as poor Ros had just had her keys run over when they fell off her whilst cycling to meet us. This resulted in some buckled sad looking bits of metal. Concerned she wouldn't be able to get back into her flat she headed off to try and resolve the situation ( later we found out that she had managed to get back into her flat and wouldn't need a bed for the night! )

I was also extra pleased to see Christinaarriving in her brand new red t'shirt ! Wow you looked amazing in it and you also posted a great tweet promoting GG Worthing too . Thank you :)

Tonights line up also included Barbara, Michelle, Nick, Jay, Lucy, Duncan, Belinda and John . (Another) special mention to John who totally smashed his parkrun PB by over 90 seconds on Saturday.

With some clear instructions on routes we headed off in 3 running groups . I was hoping that we wouldn't have a repeat of last week when I mislaid 8 runners in the space of 1 mile! Tonight we headed off to see Debbie at The Rowans, a rehabilitation centre for people with brain injuries. This is a regular task venue thats always great to head back to.

Mulch ado about nothing ? Or mulch support ?

We were warmly greeted by Debbie who had organised a great task for us this evening . Within the grounds there was a smallish pond that was completely covered with weeds and bind weed . Our job was to clear the bad stuff and fill it with good stuff including a mulchy combination of potting compost and bark . We also needed to make it look pretty too with some gorgeous lavender, flame plants and bedding plants.

In addition there was 1 tree and a large shrub that needed to be taken down . Finally there was some tree pruning to be done where branches were over hanging paths.

So ... plenty of work to keep the team occupied and out of mischief tonight!

Jay and Nick set about the trees , Duncan , Lucy and Michelle the pruning and the rest of the team set to work on the tangled mass of the pond.

S 'pond taneous

Lots of the above extreme behaviour ( thats my team! ) with Belinda virtually climbing into the pond and Jay digging like a terrier burying his bones ( or in his case, cakes! )

The whole team achieved an incredible ground force makeover and the results were pretty stunning ! Check out my amazing photographic skills ( ha ha)

We took a few moments to stand back and admire, not just tonights work of art, but also the fruits of our labour from our last visit in the pretty courtyard garden.

With a fond farewell to the lovely Debbie we headed back with a marginally shorter and prettier route back to the leisure centre.

Keeping on track

Making use of the track again was a bonus.A great way to work on speed and endurance.

Tonight the team set about doing a pyramid 100 metre sprint / rest then the same with 200 , 300 and 400 . Duncan Jay and possibly Lucy( who wasn't sure what she did ) then worked backwards down the pyramid finishing on 100.

There were some personal records set particularly for Belinda. Check out the great photo of Lucy and Belinda comparing stats!

Stretches and well done to all made a happy finish to the evening with special mention to first timer Daisy. We hope you will come back often! Also kudos to new member Christina rocking the red. A fair amount of heckling accompanied the sensible stuff but thats quite a normal occurence at GG Worthing.

What's that ?

Just a final reminder that we do have a very active and entertaining whats app group so if you aren't already in it and would like to let me know and I will add you ! Theres only one pre requisite for this and that is that you know how to use the mute button!

Next week

Meet at Splashpoint LC

Run / task/ fun fitness session/ swim/ fizz or pub

All welcome !

Have a great week everyone . Run hard, play hard and have fun in the sun :)

Julia xxx

Sol Mates

On a beautiful day in sunny Worthing nine GoodGym buddies met up for our Monday evening fix. It was great to welcome back Michelle who was of our first runners to join the group back in 2017 and who has been a loyal member ever since.

Fresh from 'Beat the Tide ' Mr and Mrs R came along with a few aches and pains. Big kudos to them both. They could have sat in the sun and drank beer but instead they came to do good and have fun !

Welcome also to Barbara , Paul, Dr Emma , Steve and not forgetting and our very own super hero Cake Man

We headed out onto the grass for a mobility based warm up designed to free up aching muscles and stiff backs before setting off to walk or run to the task nearby at Lyndhurst homeless hostel .

Worthing Border Force

At the hostel we were tasked with creating an edge around a rectangular bed that is going to be a vegetable garden together with weeding it . There were also a number of pallets that needed painting.

The team chose what they wanted to do with Paul , Steve , Michelle and Emma grabbing a paint brush . The two B's attacked the weeding followed by the bindweed and John and Jay took a leap of faith by jumping on the spades to create some sharp lines around the bed.

35 short minutes later we reluctantly called time. We could easily have spent a lot longer there but we bagged the bindweed and headed out front to get a sunny team photo.

We are going on a Bear Hunt

For our run we decided to stay close by to give flexibility to our very own doctor in case of an emergency! I decided on some laps and Steve had the great idea of heading to Homefield Park . The team split into pairs and did some efforts around the perimeter of the park focusing on speed and stride length.

It was at this point that we spotted a brown bear in the park but sadly, no Lucy for Jay to protect this evening, so it went mostly unchallenged apart from a celebrity photo being taken by me!

As it was such a beautiful evening we finished with some agility and core based games that felt like an old school sports day! We split into 2 groups with jumping,hopping and jumping jack relays finishing with the plank game. As the photos show there was a fair amount of cheating with this final game!

Cheers to a sunny Monday

Steve very kindly hosted drinks at his afterwards which I know was very much enjoyed by all that went along . Thanks Steve. We love that social feeling and I look forward to joining you on the next round :)

Next week we will be back with our friends from Breathing Spaces. Keep an eye out for more details on meeting point and task details.

Have a great week . Good Luck to all of you doing events . I'm looking forward to hearing all about your experiences.

Sending lots of GG happy vibes to you all

Julia xx

More than a stroll in the park

Tonight on a beautiful although rather windy evening in sunny Worthing we welcomed a record turn out for Worthing. This included parkrunner and newbie Keith A huge GG Worthing welcome and we hope that you enjoyed your first task and run and that it will be the first of many!

Added to this and fresh from their hols Duncan and Lucy .Not so fresh but victorious from the Worthing 10 were Paul,Jay ,and Michelle. Well done all of you on fabulous times in tough hot conditions.

Sporting their new GG t'shirts were Anne in black and Andy in red . John, Belinda, Ros, Emily , Tamsin, Barbara and Paula all looked really smart too meaning we were a sea of black and red running along the streets of Worthing.

Walkers and jalkers set off a little earlier than the runners on a slightly extended warm up run but all convened at the task on schedule.

Its a bugs Life

This evening we returned to help our friends at Bugs Cycle community garden . We were warmly welcomed by Nadia and Vanessa who commented on our fantastic turn out and just how effective we are when we turn out in force.

Nadia has already requested a return visit later in the summer to this unique and quirky community green space.

The group split into 4 different tasks including rubbing down the speedboat and 2 bench seats , watering with the huge jugs ( Lucy! ) weeding and general tidying up.

.....Oh and one very important additional task too which Emily and Tamsin were in charge of. This was sorting out Jays next date ( Check out the photos of this trio ! )

30 short minutes later but with a huge amount of progress the team posed for photos before splitting into 3 groups to head up to manor park for our weekly fitness session.

Front running group went on a detour to add in a bit more mileage whilst walkers were led astray by John and mid group were just perfect :)

Core!!

Whilst I swept up the walkers Belinda set the group off on 2 crocodile drills around the park before joining me for some core drills designed to tighten and strengthen back and ab muscles. This resulted a fair amount of moans and groaning but nothing different to the normal level of rumbling.

We finished the core work with the plank game which with the size of the group proved challenging but lots of FUN !

On track for the June challenge

We finished the fitness session with 100 metre relay which ignited some competitiveness within the group but was really only meant for some light hearted fun filled fitness:)

The group split into 3 groups again with some running directly home and some returning to Splashpoint LC where Lucy lead the stretches whilst I headed off in search of those naughty walkers who had given me the slip again!

All safely reunited we had chat about the June challenge and the various options / combination that will work.

I will leave you with a few definitions of the word challenge.

A task or situation that tests someones abilities

Invite someone to do something that one thinks is difficult or impossible

and finally

Impossible is nothing. Nothing is impossible

Have a great week everyone and stay focused and committed to the challenge. Remember walking , jalking and running all counts !

Thanks for an amazing evening . Heres to many more summer GG experiences.

Dont forget the BIG social on Sunday 30th June . 2 pm group run. 3 pm BBQ/ picnic . Everyone welcome. bring the kids too!

Julia X