Islington's Grandest Designs

17 GoodGym runners helped Ramsey Flower Gardens tidy the path and plant bulbs on a cool Monday evening.

Ramsey Flower Gardens are a guerilla gardening group who maintain three gardens in Islington, keeping paths free from fly-tipping. They rely on volunteers to do the paths, so our efforts made a big difference!

After a short run there featuring the delights of the New River Path, we focused on one of their gardening spots: the Rosebowl alleyway, which Ramsey maintain with Islington council.

After meeting Paola from Ramsey at the task, we set off to work in two groups: team leaves, and bulb squad. Both dived straight in and achieved a lot in our 30 minutes there. Team leaves almost looked like they were going to run out of bags for leaves early! They also got a great bonus fitness task in the form of crushing bagged leaves down to create mulch. A great way to reuse garden waste cluttering the path, and a great workout for balance and core stability. Team bulbs meanwhile set about digging out the ground to plant new bulbs. Also a great workout for the upper body, and muscles we don't often use when running. Look forward to seeing the fruit of their efforts next year.

Whilst we were at the task, an additional couple of tasks cropped up. A few runners chopped back some plants and bushes with garden shears. And in a creative twist, a few runners - led by creative director Al, and, erm, supervised by Aidan - used stones to recreate a heart adorning one of the garden patches. Indulging their inner Kevin McClouds, the final product was the grandest of designs. Excellent work all round.

Tonight was also a particularly special night for GoodGym Islington, featuring a rare double-biscuit special, starting with homemade biscuits at the task courtesy of Ramsey, and finished off with a variety of post-run oreos.

Before we had those second post-run oreos, there was, of course, a fitness session. Stretching our legs on the way back, we ran back via Shoreditch park for a good ol' fashioned intervals session at 80-85% effort. Running short fast intervals is a great way to improve your pace for 5k-10k races, as they push you just above the point where your muscles produce lactic acid. When your run at this pace, your body learns to process lactic acid faster, your muscles become more efficient, and you'll be able to run faster for longer. A super effort from all with a great 60s-90s-60s set, with 30 second rests. For a nice intro on incorporating intervals in your weekly running, check out this Runners World article.

We then ran gently back to the start point, finishing with some easy stretches for the calves, quads, glutes, and hamstrings. A few then popped down to the Wenlock and Essex for our monthly social after. Art, biscuits, intervals, and drinks. What more could you want from a Monday?