Some of the hardest working women I know crush a 5 a.m. workout and feel wiped out by one or two in the afternoon. Adrenaline is a high-interest loan, and the crash is the bill coming due.

This week I'm talking about exercise, and why your workout might be borrowing against tomorrow. I take you back to the kid who had to move, playing every sport I could and taking tennis lessons in the New Orleans summer heat. I walk through what the research says about intensity and cortisol, and what ultrarunners and military service members can teach us about listening to the body.

Then, I give you a map. Where your nervous system is this morning should decide how you move today. Whether you wake up wired, heavy, frozen or grounded, you'll hear what you're likely drawn to, what it costs, and what actually helps. The same HIIT class can be a withdrawal on an activated day and a deposit on a grounded day.

I also share how I move now in perimenopause, what my husband's military training taught him about pushing through, and why I stopped trying to keep up with the bros.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• The high-interest loan: why a hard morning workout can leave you wiped out by early afternoon
• The kid who had to move: how movement was my regulation long before I had a word for it
• What the research says: how workout intensity drives the cortisol spike, and how stress stacks up over months
• Lessons from ultrarunners and the military: the difference between reading your effort and listening to your body
• Your movement map: what helps when you wake up wired, heavy, frozen or grounded
• How I move now: my approach in perimenopause, and why I ask my body first

Find out where you are on the mountain:

Take the free Autonomic Assessment before you lace up tomorrow. It gives you a quick read on your nervous system state and a few practices you can start today:

AUTONOMIC ASSESSMENT LINK

Book a free Capacity Consultation. We'll map your current state, what you might need to shift, and which practices will bring more energy and connection into your days

BOOK YOUR FREE SESSION HERE

Mentioned in this episode:

Last week's episode, What You Call Procrastination, I Call Freeze, with the wall press practice for functional freeze.

Research mentioned:

Hill, E. E., Zack, E., Battaglini, C., Viru, M., Viru, A., and Hackney, A. C. (2008). Exercise and circulating cortisol levels: the intensity threshold effect. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation.

Skoluda, N., Dettenborn, L., Stalder, T., and Kirschbaum, C. (2012). Elevated hair cortisol concentrations in endurance athletes. Psychoneuroendocrinology.

Paley, C. A., and Johnson, M. I. (2025). Human resilience and pain coping strategies: a review of the literature giving insights from elite ultra-endurance athletes. Sports Medicine.

Seabury, T., Benton, D., and Young, H. A. (2023). Interoceptive differences in elite sprint and long-distance runners: a multidimensional investigation. PLoS One.

Smith, A. R., et al. Reconnecting to Internal Sensations and Experiences (RISE): an online multi-session intervention improves interoceptive sensibility for military personnel.

Connect:
Instagram: @souljourncoach

Substack: souljourncoach.substack.com