December 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Sharing the lessons in the aftermath of an unfortunate mistake earlier this week, plus answering a listener question on whether or not everyone could be a morning person. Plus: If morning workouts feel particularly hard for you, this could be the reason.
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@emilyabbate
@hurdlepodcast
@iheartwomenssports
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hey everyone, Emily here, Happy five Minute Friday. I hope
you're having a wonderful week I had. I'm giggling. This
week has been insane, insane in good and questionable ways,
in that I've been in San Antonio and I arrived
(00:39):
on Tuesday. I am here to host a conversation on
women in sports media during a trade show called the
Running Event. And on Tuesday, after deplaning and going to
a few events, I sat down to do some work
(00:59):
and went to reach for my laptop and realized that
I left my laptop in the seat pocket on the plane.
I have never done that before. I have left an
Apple Watch on a plane once and I never got
it back. And so immediately my mind was racing. This
(01:22):
is not an ideal scenario. And two things happened. One,
I went into problem solving mode. I called Delta, I
filed a lost report. I called an uber, and I
saw via find my that the laptop was at San
Antonio Airport, so I immediately went there. And also I
(01:44):
didn't get ahead of myself. And this is what I
want to talk about, specifically to close the loop on
what happened to the laptop. I get to San Antonio
Airport and I go into the lost baggage office or
the baggage office for Delta. A sweet man named Art
is there, who is now my new bestie. And Art
(02:06):
takes my phone with the find my app open and
literally follows it to where it says my laptop is,
which is at the gate where my plane came in,
and retrieves it. And he's walking out of the airport
toward where one would check in on the other side
of security, and we lock eyes and he lifts my
(02:28):
laptop in the air and I give the biggest a
breakfast club or the fist bump, and I'm like, let's
go so stoked. Okay, So that's what happened with the laptop.
I have it. It is here next to me. But
this whole not getting ahead of myself thing, I used
to not be good at this. I used to be
(02:49):
the kind of person I admittedly like things a certain way.
Of course, no one wants to lose something that's very
important to them, but I would let the things that
were beyond my control really really really ruin my mental game,
my everything. Honestly in the moments that felt so much
(03:13):
bigger than me, and through this practice, and I specifically
call it a practice because it is something that requires diligence.
I have been able to get better at responding instead
of reacting. And so yes, I had some feelings and
felt overwhelmed when I realized the item was missing on Tuesday,
(03:36):
but I was able to be practical in my response
about figuring out what was within my power to a
look for the laptop and be just deal with all
the emotions surrounding the scenario. And like I said, it's
a practice this I'm going to be able to respond
instead of react. There are going to be scenario and
(04:00):
I'm not just talking about lost items. I'm talking about
in the day to day where things aren't going as
you'd hoped. Someone comes in at a left field and
says something that shocks you or upsets you, and it
is up to you to act in a way that
makes you proud, makes your future self proud especially, And
so I knew in the instance on Tuesday that getting
(04:24):
ahead of myself wasn't going to do any favors and
made the conscious decision to just breathe through it and
do the best I could with what I had. It
is really easy to get wrapped up in the things
that you can't control, and so the question comes in,
how do I get better at this practice? I do
think that it really does begin with allowing yourself the
(04:49):
permission to take time. There is so much happening at
all times, and often it feels as though if you
don't re act immediately, there is time wasted. But what
you will find is that the more often that you
give yourself space to absorb, to manage, to process, that
(05:13):
it's not all that time sensitive, that it's not all
that serious. And when you experience how it feels to
give yourself that time and to see how that plays out,
then that's a rep. And the more reps that you
put in, the better you will become at not overreacting
or just in general reacting versus responding. For this week's
(05:36):
listener prompt, I actually want to guide you to the
guided Journaling challenge I'm doing over on the Hurdle Instagram.
So every day for the month of December, I am
offering up a prompt that helps you reflect on the
past year, and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
We've added almost two hundred people to the Instagram channel
(05:59):
over the last forty eight hours and that makes me
really excited and I'd love for you to join the squad.
So my prompt for you this week is go to
Instagram in the bio for at Hurdle podcast, click on
in there to the Daily Hurdle channel and join our challenge.
Get thinking, get writing, and just like my encouragement for
(06:21):
responding instead of reacting, you will you will be better
for it. And now a listener question. Hey, Emily, since
you've done so much work on women's health, I find
working out in the morning really hard. I want to
ask you about it, not because I'm not a morning person,
but because I often feel scattered and buzzy after, which
is hard on writing days for me when I need
(06:42):
to settle down and get into work quickly. I've tried hydration, food,
et cetera. Any other thoughts, and as someone who writes,
have you ever noticed anything with focused deep work after
your morning workouts? Glad you made it to your destination
this week, and thanks so much. I firmly believe that
anyone can be a morning workout person. And just like
the reps that it takes to get better at responding
(07:04):
instead of reacting, it takes reps to get to a
place where morning workouts really do feel good in your body.
With that said, there are a few different things that
could be happening. If you are experiencing maybe dizziness or
brain fog after a morning workout, that would be not
eating beforehand, So low blood sugar from exercising on an
(07:25):
empty stomach can really lead to a sudden drop in
blood pressure. Also, maybe you're not hydrating enough in the
hours before you go to bed. You wake up, you
haven't consumed anything in x amount of time, and so
that can be something that really messes with folks that
are morning workout people. And then a warm up is especially, especially,
(07:47):
especially important in the morning to be someone that's going
to be a morning workout person, because again, your body
has been at rest for the hours preceding that effort.
The most important thing about any exercise routine is that
a you're doing something that you enjoy. When you're doing
something that you enjoy, you're more likely to adhere to it,
(08:09):
and then b you are doing it at a time
that feels good for you. So even though you might
want to be a morning workout person, if these are
the things that you experience after the fact, then it
might just not be your thing, and that's okay. The
second part of this question, as someone who writes, have
you ever noticed anything with focused deep work after your
(08:30):
morning workouts? I am a very focused person in the
morning period. Now, there is some science behind this, and
that's because exercise does two things. One it improves blood
flow and the oxygen delivery to your brain, and two,
it releases what we call endorphins and dopamine. Endorphins and
dopamine commonly referred to as feel good chemicals. Now, this
(08:54):
physiological boost neurochemical boost, sharpens mental clarity, enhances memory, and
proves your ability to concentrate. These are all good things.
It's a big case for being a morning person. It's
a huge reason why you'll see that a lot of
people that are at the top of some of the
companies that you admire the most are also mourning people.
And it makes a case for anyone to give it
(09:15):
a try. But, like I said, everyone is different, and
so if you relate to this listener question, if you're
like it just doesn't feel right for me to an
honest personal inventory talk one on one with an expert
about what you're experiencing, what you're feeling and also make
sure you're giving your body what it really needs. Hope
this helps make sure you're falling along with Hurdle over
(09:36):
at Hurdle Podcast and over at Emily a Body. Like
I said earlier, join our Daily Hurdle monthly journaling challenge.
Would love to have you there and I'll catch you
guys next time
Hey everyone, Emily here, Happy five Minute Friday. I hope
you're having a wonderful week I had. I'm giggling. This
week has been insane, insane in good and questionable ways,
in that I've been in San Antonio and I arrived
(00:39):
on Tuesday. I am here to host a conversation on
women in sports media during a trade show called the
Running Event. And on Tuesday, after deplaning and going to
a few events, I sat down to do some work
(00:59):
and went to reach for my laptop and realized that
I left my laptop in the seat pocket on the plane.
I have never done that before. I have left an
Apple Watch on a plane once and I never got
it back. And so immediately my mind was racing. This
(01:22):
is not an ideal scenario. And two things happened. One,
I went into problem solving mode. I called Delta, I
filed a lost report. I called an uber, and I
saw via find my that the laptop was at San
Antonio Airport, so I immediately went there. And also I
(01:44):
didn't get ahead of myself. And this is what I
want to talk about, specifically to close the loop on
what happened to the laptop. I get to San Antonio
Airport and I go into the lost baggage office or
the baggage office for Delta. A sweet man named Art
is there, who is now my new bestie. And Art
(02:06):
takes my phone with the find my app open and
literally follows it to where it says my laptop is,
which is at the gate where my plane came in,
and retrieves it. And he's walking out of the airport
toward where one would check in on the other side
of security, and we lock eyes and he lifts my
(02:28):
laptop in the air and I give the biggest a
breakfast club or the fist bump, and I'm like, let's
go so stoked. Okay, So that's what happened with the laptop.
I have it. It is here next to me. But
this whole not getting ahead of myself thing, I used
to not be good at this. I used to be
(02:49):
the kind of person I admittedly like things a certain way.
Of course, no one wants to lose something that's very
important to them, but I would let the things that
were beyond my control really really really ruin my mental game,
my everything. Honestly in the moments that felt so much
(03:13):
bigger than me, and through this practice, and I specifically
call it a practice because it is something that requires diligence.
I have been able to get better at responding instead
of reacting. And so yes, I had some feelings and
felt overwhelmed when I realized the item was missing on Tuesday,
(03:36):
but I was able to be practical in my response
about figuring out what was within my power to a
look for the laptop and be just deal with all
the emotions surrounding the scenario. And like I said, it's
a practice this I'm going to be able to respond
instead of react. There are going to be scenario and
(04:00):
I'm not just talking about lost items. I'm talking about
in the day to day where things aren't going as
you'd hoped. Someone comes in at a left field and
says something that shocks you or upsets you, and it
is up to you to act in a way that
makes you proud, makes your future self proud especially, And
so I knew in the instance on Tuesday that getting
(04:24):
ahead of myself wasn't going to do any favors and
made the conscious decision to just breathe through it and
do the best I could with what I had. It
is really easy to get wrapped up in the things
that you can't control, and so the question comes in,
how do I get better at this practice? I do
think that it really does begin with allowing yourself the
(04:49):
permission to take time. There is so much happening at
all times, and often it feels as though if you
don't re act immediately, there is time wasted. But what
you will find is that the more often that you
give yourself space to absorb, to manage, to process, that
(05:13):
it's not all that time sensitive, that it's not all
that serious. And when you experience how it feels to
give yourself that time and to see how that plays out,
then that's a rep. And the more reps that you
put in, the better you will become at not overreacting
or just in general reacting versus responding. For this week's
(05:36):
listener prompt, I actually want to guide you to the
guided Journaling challenge I'm doing over on the Hurdle Instagram.
So every day for the month of December, I am
offering up a prompt that helps you reflect on the
past year, and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
We've added almost two hundred people to the Instagram channel
(05:59):
over the last forty eight hours and that makes me
really excited and I'd love for you to join the squad.
So my prompt for you this week is go to
Instagram in the bio for at Hurdle podcast, click on
in there to the Daily Hurdle channel and join our challenge.
Get thinking, get writing, and just like my encouragement for
(06:21):
responding instead of reacting, you will you will be better
for it. And now a listener question. Hey, Emily, since
you've done so much work on women's health, I find
working out in the morning really hard. I want to
ask you about it, not because I'm not a morning person,
but because I often feel scattered and buzzy after, which
is hard on writing days for me when I need
(06:42):
to settle down and get into work quickly. I've tried hydration, food,
et cetera. Any other thoughts, and as someone who writes,
have you ever noticed anything with focused deep work after
your morning workouts? Glad you made it to your destination
this week, and thanks so much. I firmly believe that
anyone can be a morning workout person. And just like
the reps that it takes to get better at responding
(07:04):
instead of reacting, it takes reps to get to a
place where morning workouts really do feel good in your body.
With that said, there are a few different things that
could be happening. If you are experiencing maybe dizziness or
brain fog after a morning workout, that would be not
eating beforehand, So low blood sugar from exercising on an
(07:25):
empty stomach can really lead to a sudden drop in
blood pressure. Also, maybe you're not hydrating enough in the
hours before you go to bed. You wake up, you
haven't consumed anything in x amount of time, and so
that can be something that really messes with folks that
are morning workout people. And then a warm up is especially, especially,
(07:47):
especially important in the morning to be someone that's going
to be a morning workout person, because again, your body
has been at rest for the hours preceding that effort.
The most important thing about any exercise routine is that
a you're doing something that you enjoy. When you're doing
something that you enjoy, you're more likely to adhere to it,
(08:09):
and then b you are doing it at a time
that feels good for you. So even though you might
want to be a morning workout person, if these are
the things that you experience after the fact, then it
might just not be your thing, and that's okay. The
second part of this question, as someone who writes, have
you ever noticed anything with focused deep work after your
(08:30):
morning workouts? I am a very focused person in the
morning period. Now, there is some science behind this, and
that's because exercise does two things. One it improves blood
flow and the oxygen delivery to your brain, and two,
it releases what we call endorphins and dopamine. Endorphins and
dopamine commonly referred to as feel good chemicals. Now, this
(08:54):
physiological boost neurochemical boost, sharpens mental clarity, enhances memory, and
proves your ability to concentrate. These are all good things.
It's a big case for being a morning person. It's
a huge reason why you'll see that a lot of
people that are at the top of some of the
companies that you admire the most are also mourning people.
And it makes a case for anyone to give it
(09:15):
a try. But, like I said, everyone is different, and
so if you relate to this listener question, if you're
like it just doesn't feel right for me to an
honest personal inventory talk one on one with an expert
about what you're experiencing, what you're feeling and also make
sure you're giving your body what it really needs. Hope
this helps make sure you're falling along with Hurdle over
(09:36):
at Hurdle Podcast and over at Emily a Body. Like
I said earlier, join our Daily Hurdle monthly journaling challenge.
Would love to have you there and I'll catch you
guys next time
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