It was a lovely sunny evening for a GoodGym task. Victoria Park didn’t need us to clear their track anymore so Margeret at Hollybush helped us out with a last minute task. One group pruned a huge bush, carefully following Michael’s instructions on aesthetics! The other group was doing more gardening.

We tasked hard for about 30 mins and then cleared up all the mess and took a jog to Victoria Park, Alison leading a gentle jog, Tom a medium pace and Axel those who fancied a faster run.

At the park the sun was setting on a beautiful day, Tom partnered us all up, got us in a massive circle and some fitness fun commenced! To finish we did some sprints followed by easy jogs back, we pushed hard, and then ran steadily back to the hotel, where we parted ways, all a bit fitter and a bit more covered in foliage.

Two tasks on this lovely summer evening in Islington.

One group popped up to Whittington Park. Aidan describes:

We arrived at Whittington Park after our longer run down Holloway Road. Our fortnightly task awaited us with Martin ready with bin bags and gloves.

The majority of us tackled the 1 o'clock club's garden as we need to keep up our good work of maintaining a weed and nettle free garden for the kids who use the club.

There was also the task of de-weeding the entrance of the main building, keeping it looking great for everyone!

After working hard for twenty minutes what better way to treat ourselves than with some circuits. Everyone got a chance to pick an exercise for everyone else to do whilst they went on a short lap of the field. Although some of the ladies did get a bit lost along the way! We had all the classics; press ups, sit-ups, planking and two types of squatting for good measure. All before rejoining Holloway Road for our run back.

Aidan

The other group travelled to Barnsbury Community Centre. We've spent a lot of time over the last year helping create a wonderful garden in the disused space behind the centre and we're now just putting the finishing touches to the project for their grand launch on 25th August.

First job was to get gloves out the storage cabinet. Simple, right? Nope. A combination of stupid rain and then stupid heat meant the combination lock for the cabinet had seized up completely. Despite the best efforts of Caroline, Patrick and a pair of pliers it remained stuck. Not to worry: we'd just have to be extra careful.

We spent 25 minutes carrying old pallets and broken bits of wood round to the estate's waste disposal site, having a thoroughly good weed and watering plants. Nice work.

Following the task we played "Dice of Doom" with Simon's new giant foam dice: everybody had a chance to throw the dice and determine the activity that had to be performed for 15 seconds. There were alternate squat thrusts, running high knees, start jumps (LOTS of start jumps), sprints, dreaded burpees (boo) and the elusive jogging on the spot. We then played a game that Caroline made up. Nobody was quite sure what it was.

Back at the pool we had a free stretch, a biscuit and voted on the proper way to eat scones: jam then cream, cream then jam, or Claire's suggestion, butter, jam then cream (which is apparently the traditional Cornish way of doing things)? Jam then cream won by quite a large margin. Some people were disgusted at this - especially Steve - but the people have spoken.

If anybody wants to make scones for next week maybe we could put it to the test.

xxx,
Simon

A 17-strong crew of Tower Hamlets GoodGymmers, including two very welcome first-timers, had the honour of preparing the Rocky Park in the Hollybush Estate to go down in the horticultural history books... The garden has been nominated for the RHS Britain in Bloom award having already scooped the regional prize!

After a short run to meet the owners Margaret & Michael, our group set about cutting back the hedges, clearing the moss and weeds from around the raised beds and removing the piles of wood and corrugated sheets from what shall henceforth be known as "Spider Corner".

Following the excellent job done by the team, the next stop was Haggerston Park for a series of drills and intervals. Coach Tom took pleasure in making us can-can up and down the public park (with no doubt a few of us secretly enjoying it) but all in the aid of good running form and technique.

Four 1-minute fast-paced runs and some paired shuttle runs around the perimeter of the park finished off the session. Well done to all - an excellent effort and best of luck from all of us to Rocky Park for Thursday's Britain in Bloom judging!

Alexander.