Spring forward and get marathon ready at former London 2012 Athletes’ Village

Take full advantage of the extra hour of daylight and discover outdoor living at East Village, London’s newest neighbourhood

Spring is in the air and with the days getting noticeably longer, East Village – the former London 2012 Athletes’ Village and London’s newest neighbourhood – is gearing up to the official start of British Summertime when the clocks will ‘spring forward’ at 1.00am on Sunday 29 March.

Instead of fretting about losing an hour of sleep when the clocks go forward, East Village residents can make use of the lighter evenings to get outside and shape up for the Summer season. Boasting more than 25 acres of open space, the great outdoors is there for the embracing at East Village; and with just eight weeks to go until the London Marathon, the former London 2012 Athletes’ Village provides the perfect backdrop to train.

Daily-free outdoor exercise classes with Our Parks

The abundance of outdoor space, next to the world-class sporting facilities at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has inspired daily free outdoor exercise classes and training bootcamps at Victory Park. These are in association with Our Parks who bring group exercise classes to parks across London, led by experienced, fully-qualified instructors. East Village residents and visitors can choose from a wide range of free evening fitness sessions during the week – from Parkour interval training on Mondays to outdoor yoga and hula hoop fitness classes on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings respectively, as well as Box Fit on Thursdays.

London Marathon training top tips

For those already in their stride with Spring marathon training, Our Parks CEO & Founder, Born Barikor, has these top five, fail-safe tips for local residents in their final weeks of London Marathon preparations:

• Don’t over train – Gradually increase your mileage weekly – jumping to more than 3 miles in one go can lead to injury.
• Try other activities – Add some variety to your training regime and try out other activities such as yoga, boxing and circuit training. This will help to improve your strength and fitness, which will in turn maximise your efficiency whilst running.
• Save your knees – Switch up your runs and take advantage of the green open spaces at East Village. This will save your knees and help improve your fitness, as uneven surfaces make you work harder.
• Set the scene – Changing the running scenery not only helps you stay focused, but different routes help you to adapt to running in different settings, which will be needed on the big day.
• Get the right playlist – High bpm music helps to improve the tempo of your runs; as you get fitter and closer to race day, increase the tempo of your song selection. Drum’n’Bass the week before always works!

GoodGym group running scheme

Runners are spoiled at East Village with a whole range of running activities and facilities on offer, from Sunday morning Run Fit sessions with Our Parks and East Village running clubs, to GoodGym – a group running and charitable scheme brought about through an innovative partnership with Get Living London, the residential owner and manager behind East Village’s private rental homes. GoodGym works to create group running routes featuring a charitable service stop – to benefit the local community or visit people who may otherwise spend the day alone.

Refuel at the local ‘Neighbourhood’ pub

For anyone feeling the need to refuel after a tough workout, there is the recently-opened ‘Neighbourhood’ pub conveniently located opposite Victory Park. Both residents and visitors alike can discover an array of healthy options including smaller plates and delicious superfood salads.

 Neil Young, Chief Executive, Get Living London said: “Here at East Village, we want local residents to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight and embrace the outdoors – where better to spring forward into Summer and get marathon ready than at the former Athletes’ Village? Get active and have fun discovering the wealth of outdoor amenities on offer at East Village.”