The Birmingham Wombles were out in force!

13 people ran 5k to do a litter pick on our adopted part of the canal

On a lovely English summers evening (we haven’t had to many recently so it was good to make the most of it!) we welcomed Catherine to the group who has moved up to Brum from the ‘Big Smoke’. It was great to have her with us, please give her a cheer! We set on our why with bag hoops, litter pickers, bin bags and gloves to hand, fully armed to do a right good job on the canal. Once arriving at our task destination, the group were split into four smaller groups each clearing a small section of the canal and then meeting up with the bags at Aston Lock where they would be dropped off for the nice people from the Canal and River Trust to pick up on their rounds. I helped the group of Morwenna, Catherine and Andrew being the ‘eyes’ of the operation, I seemed particularly good a picking out a Coke can!

10 sacks full!

Once we all met up at Aston Lock we had 10 bulging sacks full of rubbish! Great work! So, we were on to the fitness session. After a few of us were trying to work out if we could jump across a narrow part of the canal in front of us……we could have used it for the fitness session, however somehow, I don’t think Health and Safety Regulations would have quite let us do that one!!!! So, it was decided we would stick to some interval training. The group initially did one ‘up and down’ interval, sprinting up over the lock, down the other side then up over the next lock, whilst carrying the litter picking equipment I must add! Then they dumped it off and did six out and back interval sprints of varying distance. The whole group were excellent! Phil, Rob, David and Sam pulled the group along at the front. Abbie was brilliant showing lots of improvement from the last interval workout, Laura worked hard showing great style and Catherine put in a great shift on her first session. There are plenty of pictures, apologies for the one with my fat finger over the lense, atleast it shows it's live!!

More high intensity work

The group then ran back towards 1000 Trades, however just before the group left the canal there was some time for a bit of squatting, lunging and tuck jumps just to get the heart rate through the roof if it wasn’t already! Again, the whole group put in great work, Dionne held a great squat showing her Yoga workouts have paid off and Andrew and Kate put some great work in during the tuck jumps! Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here. This run will be around 10k, so it is a great chance to challenge yourself to a longer run and then as we are having our social, reward yourself with a well-earned drink afterwards!