Angela Mynott

Tonight the Brighton Goodgymers leisurely walked to Bedford Square following our great trail run on Sunday organised by Michael.

The Bedford Square Community Garden Project is headed by Peter who welcomed us into the square. Peter and the other residents have been looking after the square to try and discourage antisocial behaviour and instill a sense of pride back into the community.

The project has been going for a number of years and moved at a variety of paces and so the community were hoping that we would inject some life back into the garden by helping with destructive gardening (our speciality) by removing dried up poppies and weeds. Well 45 minutes and 4 tonne rubble sacks later most of the garden was cleared!

The weeding revealed some litter which we also cleared, along with hundreds of cigarette butts, a sandle, half a bike lock and some shop security tags(!).

With the weeds and rubbish cleared we took to the seafront to complete a Fartlek, a Swedish word that translates as "Speed Play". After a 1km warm up along Hove Prom, we used the lamp posts as markers to alternate between fast and slow running. The slow running between the fast bursts, encourages our bodies to actively recover. This trains our cardio system to improve and achieve faster paces over longer distances. Meaning that Parkrun PB is easier than we think 😃. For a more technical explanation check out this infographic.

So the second in our summer trail runs is a route just under 10km. There is a steep descent and then climb back up in the middle but we can take both easy and it is worth it for the scenery. The route is not as much on the trails as last time and is almost an out and back so we can get back to Brighton quicker. Afterwards we'll be heading to the Hare and Houns Pub near Preston Circus to celebrate Goodgym Brighton's 5th Birthday!

Route: https://onthegomap.com/?m=s&u=km&w%5B%5D=Routes+may+not+be+suitable+for+public+use.&c%5B%5D=Route+data+%C2%A92022+On+The+Go+Map%2C+OpenStreetMap+Contributors&d=9647&f=56e034ecad&n=1&dm=1&context=share&r2=wZes9~xLC9a2cBIy30Y10C2q38e1q1k2m2u4m4gAm1Y5Uy2W1m4Kc45y47w14m1BC2Y17s71Ia2Qi1E9u1Ny55s68W5Si8O_4OY30i1C6Ca1y1Y86QMg4u3eJk2Y9o5mJy2s9g2c8w3qAa1q3g4eCo3e8a1y2Aa18SUe2W5m7kGuOaDiJCAw7gAW5eMs2W6e5k89Az2e3Hi1Z1e3Rq3Lc2t1c3~1w2l1y1h1St1Er5Ap5On22D4Bi1Ch1j2X7Jr27t33h4KXCZ2t4t4j5D4N8p1l1z1z2~1z3l1p3p1b7Nx1X1z1~1Z1t2f12Q1P1P5v2Gr4Gp5Kl8AhA1xHHf3h1p31HRX2157R9Z1Z1x2n3d8f4dCZ1p3v3pAf2b8x2r9n5lJj2X9t3dJLf45Px1X8BZ1B50h1NX3Nz4Rh87~46r6Ox5At1h1DZ2P2H8r71X1CB3l18v16x4Jb4Vl4Tx2l1X5l4fAl2t4p1j27d11p30B0X1Hx3x1x9

This week we meet on the sea front to mingle amongst those having a nice day by the sea, and a camera crew filming some sort of ice cream eating challenge! Despite Rebecca and Angela attempts to join in the ice cream challenge, we headed to Palmeria Square to meet resident Stuart who had a specific job for us to do.

Due to antisocial behaviour in the common areas there has been a lot of broken glass which has bothered residents, their families and furry friends a like. Armed with brooms, litter pickers, spades and dustpan and brushes we combed the top part of the park to clear as much glass and litter as possible, making it a safer space.

Many residents came to say hello, with Mark being quite the local celebrity!

We stayed in the park to compete our fitness session, where we concentrated on our balance to improve our form and reaction to uneven ground. Check out our wonky poses!

If you'd like to have a go please check out the session here

Fitness done we all ran back home bathed in golden hour sunlight!

A short time ago in a garden not too far away...(cue dramatic music).

In period of unprecedented heat, a brave alliance of nine Goodgym runners challenged the tyranny and oppression of an awesome amount of weeds.

After being regaled with tales of Angela and Jason's trail running exploits and Nancy's 50th Parkrun, we were ready to take on a new challenge at a different destination! We took the short trip from the seafront up to the YMCA to take on the might of their unloved garden. Ruled over for many years by weeds, dirt and all manner of debris, the group set to work clearing space.

The dead daffodils, sneaky sticky weed and limp leaves didn't know what hit them with a blitz of activity transforming the garden. Beating back the overflowing beds even revealed the long lost path to the shed! Our whirl of activity drew attention from the residents who were delighted to be reclaiming the space and already thinking of ways to enhance its future. Such was the speed of our attack some of us had time to stand back and admire while Jay, Philippa and Rebecca soldiered on clearing the debris. The garden was brought back to life ready to be used again.

Fresh from victory we journeyed back to the seafront for some short lamp post intervals to take us back to base. A great evenings work and we can all bask in the knowledge that an old space now has new hope...

It seems Hove Prom was the place to be tonight! There were many people out running and "promming" with the sun and still water it felt like a great spot to relax....

Not for these Goodymers though! We had a date with some gardening utensils and an over ground church yard! We ran along the sea front to St. Andrews Church of Hove to meet Vicar Dan who was already mowing between some headstones. Dan, and the parish, are hoping to keep the grounds tidy to discourage antisocial behavior and make it somewhere for people to enjoy as well as pay their respects.

We had the choice of hand tools to help with general weeding or power tools to do some real destructive gardening! Frannie, Tabby and Amro, geared up with mowers and strimmers tackled the knee high grass, [Angela](/runners/angela-mynott, Juliet, and Matt went town on bindweed which had obscured several head stones, while Jane, Jason, Rebecca and Michael cleared the back of the grounds where some antisocial activity has been known to take place.

With so many hands this week and Vicar Dan's well stocked garden equipment store, we got a lot cleared and rewarded ourselves with a core work out! As runners and walkers it is go to maintain our core to help keep our posture and isolate our arms from our legs so that they work together to propel us forward and to that finish line! To promote some social behavior we completed 10 core exercises in the round - hopefully no one will be feeling it too much tomorrow! If anyone wanted to have another go at our work out your can find it here.

With task and work out complete we headed back along the seafront for a steady, flat run.

Well done to Jane who told me she is doing couch to 5k - looking to see you at a Parkrun very soon!

Best of luck to Angela who is doing the 10k at the Brighton Trails event this Sunday - hope the trail run from the other week will help you smash out a great time!