it’s meal plan monday! i try to meal plan every saturday (i used to meal plan on sundays but now my groceries are delivered on sundays!) & do my best to stick to the plan i create. it helps keep me on a schedule and let’s me start my week off on the right foot. I share those plans with you guys on mondays, in short and sweet posts– with links to recipes when applicable.
so let’s get down to it!
oh & in case you’re wondering – this is the meal planning pad i use! Read More
HIIIIII. as you can tell from this post one of the things that has really changed in my life over the last few months is my focus on health in general. I've been working out consistently and eating healthy (80/20 for the win here) for the last four months and I'm seeing amazing results. its wild what a small shift in how you look at food and workouts can change everything.
ALSO. if you're interested in the programs/meal plan that i've been following that have helped me achieve those results ^^ email me at coachashley@thepikeplacekitchen.com ?
one of the things I've always wanted to share more of was my fitness journey. or my health journey? idk what one it technically is. EITHER WAY. I'm going to be sharing a weekly recap of my workouts on Wednesdayyys. as always I welcome your feedback! Do you love it? Do you hate it? TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS. im very needy. I'm sorry.
here's how this series is gonna be formatted:
then i'll give you a brief overview of what happened that day/why i chose that workout/orrr any day specific thoughts i have! at the end i'll wrap it all up with my overall thoughts on the week or any goals i might have for the next week. Questions? leave them in the comments! ?? ? ??
on Monday I was really suffering from pain that I thoughtttt was from my knee. I kept it simple – I knew I was going to the doctor on Thursday to get myself checked out and didn't feel like it made sense to push too hard before then. so I committed to spending this week hitting my move calorie goal any way I could.
I was still a little uncomfortable on Tuesday, but decided to walk home that day too. my apple watch is really weird with the distances when I'm walking home – I'm sure its a function of me walking different ways, but its still odd.
my brother came to visit! he got here on Wednesday, but I still walked home from work to make sure I hit that move goal.
THURSDAY. so this is the day that I went to see Dr. Rosen, a sports medicine/orthopaedic surgeon in NYC. since the NYC half marathon in March, my knee has been flaring up after EVERY run. including the 5k I did on Easter (see Monday's pain). I was finally talked into seeing a doctor for it and I'm SO glad I did. They took x-rays (which showed I have perfect knees) and then the doctor did an ultrasound on my knee tissue. turns out its not my knee at all, its my IT band. I have ITBS and it's inflamed around the outside of my knee (the ultrasound showed liquid there). when I told Dr. Rosen that I'm supposed to run another half on the 30th (this sunday) he suggested a shot of cortisol in my knee. he also gave me anti-inflammatory meds and suggested going back to physical therapy. the shot definitely made my knee feel weird so I focused on arm toning later in the day and tried to stay off my feet as much as possible!
this was frankies birthday! we walked around the city a little bit (aka bar hopped) and all the movement at the bar got me past my move calorie goal!
Saturday was an… immobile day. I was down for the count most of the day and felt like death. too many margaritas. later in the day Frankie and I ventured outside to get sandwiches and walked around a bit.
we had an NYCFC game on sunday & walking around to get there put me past my goal so I considered it a rest day.
honestly this week was a bit of a bummer for me. I prefer a more active week with specific workouts and RUNNING. a full week without a run is an anomaly now. im really nervous that the IT band injury has set me back a lot (I haven't been training as consistently as I like to) and I'm worried it'll get in my head when race day shows up on sunday. luckily for me I have another half in may that will make up for the upcoming one and my knee already feels a TON better so I can get back into training soon. this week will be better I'm sure & i'll deal with these things as they come along.
to follow my journey check out my fitness instagram & facebook page. && if you're ready to start on YOUR journey, i want to help! email me at coachashley@thepikeplacekitchen.com to discuss programs, meal plans, or tips & tricks!
pull up a chair, pour yourself some coffee (or tea!), and let's chat about life, where I've been, what I've been doing, and what my plans are! are you ready?! TONS of energy.
GUYS OMG. it's been SOOOOO LONG since we've gone on a date! have you missed this? do you guys like these posts? I have to admit this IS one of my favorite series on the blog. i LOVE sharing new places with you guys, especially the smaller, not popular places. i also just really love having any excuse to force frankie to take me on a date. SOOO there's that.
so let's date! YAY!
beforeeeee we start on THIS date – i should tell you that we went to MELA East with my mom for happy hour when she was here a few weeks ago and loveeeed it! we got happy hour wine and asked for a meat board with just turkey and prosciutto and it was amazing and SO CUTE inside, which just made me want to go there for dinner more.
let's start with the wineeeeeeeeeeee. ?????
so when we got to Mela we knew we were going to be sharing a bottle of wine. i've been super into reds lately && knowing that we were going to have italian i figured there would be a decent amount of red meat/red sauces so it was sort of a no brainer. i picked a bottle of Montepulciano because it's one of my faves!
our waitress told us the specials and right away i KNEW i needed the asparagus appetizer. the asparagus was grilled and then topped with arugula, parmesan shavings, & a balsamic drizzle. SO FREAKING GOOD.
we also ordered the polpette, and the second i said it our waitress gave us a knowing look and a nod, so i wasn't surprised AT ALL when they were fantastic and perfect. they were tender and delicious with great flavor. SO GOOD.
for our main dishes we decided to share two of them. it's my new thing – one dish that's healthier and one that's more indulgent and share. i got the idea from a live video Ali from Inspiralized did a few months ago and i loved the idea. it worked out exactly how i wanted it to so YAY!
buuuuut maybe both of our entrees this time around were indulgent… oops.
we ordered the oxtail ragu pasta because… DUH. and then when we heard the special was a grandma style beef roll with spinach, a crepe, rolls together and then wrapped in BACON, there was literally NO question in my mind.
both were amazing, but i didn't realize the pasta would come with cheese on top so i was definitely more excited about the rolls. I asked frankie to eat the pasta with cheese on it so i could have the pasta underneath because i was a baby. it was SUPER freaking good pasta though.
HOOKAY those grandma rolls. FREAKING AMAZING. so so good. i want to recreate them so bad. they came with an israeli cous cous that had a bunch of different veggies in it. ughhhh if you go and they have this on special – ORDER IT.
SO after stuffing our faces with food we decided to finish the dinner off with a cocktail. i got my favoriteeee espresso martini with no baileys and frankie weirdly ordered an old fashioned. he's been really into those lately… i have no explanations, but whateverrrr he enjoyed it so that's all that matters.
OVERALL. we loved it. it was so delish and we will definitely go back again. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
it’s meal plan monday! i try to meal plan every saturday (i used to meal plan on sundays but now my groceries are delivered on sundays!) & do my best to stick to the plan i create. it helps keep me on a schedule and let’s me start my week off on the right foot. I share those plans with you guys on mondays, in short and sweet posts– with links to recipes when applicable.
so let’s get down to it!
oh & in case you’re wondering – this is the meal planning pad i use! Read More
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