We did more 'arm than good

We kicked off our Wednesday night run with lots of exciting bits of news - you've been busy, Hounslow!

A big well done to Remy who smashed a tough 20 mile race in Cheshire at the weekend, and to Jen who ran her first 10k - great running ladies.

stop press It's our very first time hosting the GoodGym social (along with our lovely neighbours in Ealing and Hammersmith) and it's TONIGHT! All the details are here so come along to find out all the great stuff GG UK has been up to, catch up with all your GG buddies and, perhaps most importantly, find out this month's shortlist for pun of the month! The Rutland Arms by Hammersmith Bridge, 6:30-late, no PE kit required.

If you fancy taking part in the Peckham parkrun takeover, either as a pacer, marshal or any other volunteering role, then check out this sign up page for all the details.

Rockery and Roll

With our task tonight in sight of our starting point, we saved our warm up for later and got stuck straight into the task. Ambling over to the rockery area at Turnham Green, we met up with Jan who was waiting for us with a wheelbarrow full of tools. Jan is a volunteer with Friends of Turnham Green, a group who dedicate their time to keeping the area beautiful for local residents.

We divided up into teams and started tackling the weeds, litter and even added a new string to our GG bow - combing the plants. Sounds weird, but was oddly soothing removing the dead foliage. With a few near misses (where did that lilac plant go...um, Michelle?) we called it a day after 40 minutes of work, one huge pile of weeds, and a much neater rockery. Great work everybody.

It was then time for our fitness session so after a quick warm up where we named the everyday luxury we couldn't live without - coffee, makeup, olive oil, chocolate and peanut butter topped the list, as usual we're very food based in our responses - we got our heart rates up with a game of stuck in the mud with a difference. While speedy Will and Andy were 'it' and had to tag as many runners as they could, to be freed from the mud required somebody coming to do a number of squats with the stickee. Sounds easy, but it was actually pretty tough going, unless your tactic was to hide (naming no names....!).

We then talked about a quick technique point before moving on to the dreaded pyramid intervals. This is a speed session that hurts, but I promise it's worth the pain! As runners, we should put some emphasis on faster sessions rather than longer ones - if you train the same, your race running will never change either. Yes, you'll build up stamina, but your body won't know what it feels like to run at your fast pace, and you also risk repetitive strain from never changing up your stride. Last night's session where we varied up the pace and practised changing gear is a good one to include in your training every week.

We then moved on to arms - strength work is another vital element (and who doesn't want arms like Michelle Obama?) There were 8 different strength exercises including inchworms, various planks, tricep dips and supermans - and we counted ourselves lucky that by now the park was completely dark so nobody could see what we were doing!

Well done everybody! Next week we're helping out the Honeypot Children's charity by visiting several community hubs to hand out their information leaflets. Sign up here, and until then, run happy everyone!