Dying To Ask

AJ Hurt on Pressure, Perspective, and the Power of a Good Piano Jam

Olympic skier AJ Hurt is the ultimate "bring your kid to work" success story.

Her dad is on the ski patrol at Palisades Tahoe resort and AJ grew up hanging out with her dad on the mountain.

AJ competed for Palisades Tahoe before making it onto the U.S. Ski Team as a teenager.

"I was 16 when I raced my first World Cup. No one knows what they're doing at 16!" says AJ.

But AJ figured it out quickly. She's an eight year member of the U.S. Ski Team, a three-time U.S. Alpine champ, and competed in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

She's as dedicated to her studies as she is her efforts on the snow. AJ studied engineering at Dartmouth. And, she's an accomplished musician as well. Fellow U.S. ski team members rely on her piano skills for impromptu singalongs on the road during the ski season.

We caught up with AJ during off-season training in Tahoe to talk about how to maintain life perspective while competing at such a high level.

On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan- Cortina:

• What AJ does in the summer to get ready for an Olympic year
• The role music plays in relaxing her brain
• And we'll enjoy an impromptu concert in an history Olympic Valley, CA chapel from AJ

Sliding Back: Kendall Wesenberg’s 600-Day Comeback

"Head first" isn't a choice for Kendall Wesenberg. It's a job requirement.

The skeleton slider has also turned it into her life mantra. And her grit to push through life and it's challenges is becoming legendary.

The 2018 Olympian is working toward qualifying for her second Olympic Team. But she's already put in a gold medal worthy effort just trying to qualify for the 2026 Winter Games.

Kendall grew up in Modesto, California, playing a variety of sports. She graduated from CU-Boulder and in 2010 watched the sport of skeleton for the first time during the Vancouver Olympics. She thought, "I wonder if I could do that?"

She attended a sliding athletes combine and discovered she had an irrational need for speed and the innate talent to get good at one of the most niche Olympic sport.

Skeleton athletes slide head first on their stomachs down the same icy track the bobsleds go down.

Athletes use their shoulder sand knees to steer.

Kendall explains, "There are anywhere from 12 to 20-something curves that you try and cover in about a minute, usually less."

She's gone as fast at 86 miles per hour on a track. And, she competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

But she failed to make the 2022 Olympic Team. It turns out she had an undiagnosed spinal injury that had gone untreated for three years. It explained the immense pain she'd experienced training and competing.

"The things that hold your spine in place snapped off of my back. And when it didn't get diagnosed, my vertebrae just slid out of my spinal column. So it was like fully pinching my nerves. I couldn't feel my legs," says Kendall.

Her surgeon recommended a spinal fusion, a surgery with a very long recovery.

Kendall jokes, "The playbook's pretty thin on a return to sport post spine fusion."

But her doctor didn't close the door on a return to the sport she loved. Kendall spent three months in a back brace, seven months barely walking and couldn't start serious physical therapy until 10 months post surgery.

600 days later she returned to the ice describing her return to a track as "awesome."

A year later, she's earned a spot on the U.S. World Cup Skeleton Team and she's actively trying to qualify for that second Olympic Team.

On this Dying to Ask: The Road to Milan- Cortina:

• Advice for anyone trying to heal from a major injury
• How Kendall stays positive despite spending years healing her body
• Kendall's wife did some sliding...into her DMs. How being married has added balance to her athletic life

 

From Burnout to World Champion: Alysa Liu’s Unlikely Comeback

Whoever said quitters never win never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.

Liu quit figure skating after the 2022 Winter Olympics. At age 16, she was burned out and wanted to be a normal teenager. 

"I was done a year before I quit. I knew I wanted to be done way before I actually announced my retirement," Liu said.

For two years, Liu embraced life as a teenager, making up for lost time she'd spent on the ice. She got a driver's license, drove her four siblings to school, stayed up late and hung out with friends. She traveled for fun instead of competitions and even hiked in the Himalayas.

She enrolled at UCLA and even took up skiing, a sport she'd never had time to try as an elite figure skater.

She loved the feel of the cold air on her face when she was skiing. It reminded her of skating and two years after retiring, Alysa went to a local rink with a friend.

Alysa started skating for fun, and it wasn't long before she got the itch to skate more seriously. She called a former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and asked him what he thought about her coming out of retirement. At first, he wasn't a fan.

"I said, 'Please don't. I really did.'  I said, 'Please don't. Respect your legacy,'" DiGuglielmo said. "We had a Zoom call for two hours. The story is I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback."

The two started training together, and seven months later, Liu won a world title in a sport she left as a child but returned to as an adult.

On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan-Cortina:

• The power of taking a break
• Re-thinking how we look at the role age plays in sports like figure skating
• A frank look at what young teen athletes give up to be the best in their sport and the impact that can have long-term on mental health
• And why Alysa's coach thinks she could pull off a two-year gap in training and emerge stronger than ever

 

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Bryce Bennett Finds Olympic Edge In Parenthood

Bryce Bennett has a new title, and it's his favorite one yet: dad.

The two-time Olympic skier is going for his third Olympic Team. Bryce is 33 and has spent nearly half his life on the U.S. Ski Team.

Bryce and his wife, Kelley, welcomed their first child, a daughter, this spring.

"You have this thing that is totally dependent on you," Bennett said. "You're in total love with it. And you will do anything to give it as many opportunities as you can."

One of those opportunities will be a front row seat to her dad trying to make his third Olympic Team after 14 years of competing with the U.S. Ski Team around the world.

"Kelley is going to come over, and we're going to rent an apartment and spend a lot of time in Europe this winter. The little baby is going to come over, and we're just going to live life and figure it out," Bennett said.

Bryce grew up in Tahoe City, CA, and skied at Palisades Tahoe as a kid. He was a teenager when he made the U.S. Ski Team. In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, he finished 17th (Super G-Men) and 19th (Downhill - Men). In the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, he finished 16th (Downhill - Men) and 17th (Super Combined - Men).

His goal for 2026? 

"My ideal year this year would be have an insane season, which is doable. Win the Olympics, take your trophies, and put them deep in the basement. And then go on and live your life," Bennett said.

Bryce is known for a few things off the snow. One, he has a lot of hobbies, including fishing. You'll see as many "big ole fish" pictures on his Instagram feed as you do ski runs. The second is his incredible sense of humor.

And that's why I picked Bryce to lead off our launch of Dying to Ask: The Road to Milan-Cortina.

Get ready to laugh out loud as Bryce describes what it's like to be a pro skier when you're 6 feet 7 inches tall. Find out why being a parent as a winter Olympic athlete is like being a unicorn on the U.S. Olympic Team. And get some perspective on why being in tunnel vision with a goal is pointless.

On this Dying to Ask: The Road to Milan-Cortina:

• How rare it is to be a parent on the U.S. Olympic Team
• The edge Olympians say parenthood gives them
• How Bryce stays motivated after spending nearly half his life on the U.S. Ski Team
• The value of having hobbies outside your day job

 

 

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Stressed Or Thirsty? Fight Anxiety With Your Water Bottle

Stressed out? Try drinking a glass of water.

Dehydration can mimic the symptoms of anxiety.

Being properly hydrated is good for your energy, fitness and skin. It's just as important for your stress levels.

A recent article in Women's Health broke down a study on the effects of being under-hydrated on anxiety and future health.

Abigail Cuffey is the executive editor of Women's Health.

"The researchers ultimately found that those who were drinking lower levels of fluids, lower levels of water — they had a bigger reaction to stress, and they put them through various stress tests. And those who were less hydrated had a bigger reaction, had a more powerful reaction to stress," Cuffey said.

We've always known proper hydration is key for good energy, fitness and skin. Now we know it can impact mood. Think of your water bottle as another tool, like meditation, to control stress.

"Now, is it going to magically take away all of your problems? I wish it could remove all the stress. But it really can help, and these really simple, easy things that we do also just make us feel like we're in control," Cuffey said.

On this Dying to Ask:

• The link between being properly hydrated and stress levels
• Why dehydration mimics anxiety
• A simple way to know if you're drinking enough water
• How dehydration impacts your future health
• How much water should we drink daily?

Why Audiobooks Are Awesome For Your Mental Health

Audiobooks are booming in popularity and they are a fun way to boost mental health.

A calm voice can actually lower your stress hormones just like meditation does.

Publishers Weekly reports the audiobook industry grew 13% in revenue last year, marking more than a decade of double-digit growth. Americans are listening more than ever while while commuting, working out, or just winding down at night.

Lonely?

An audiobook can be surprisingly comforting. There's something about having a voice in your ear, telling you a story, that is intimate. That sense of connection is can really impact your mood.

Need to improve focus?

Stop scrolling and start listening. Give your busy brain a break.

On this Dying to Ask:

• 5 ways listening to audiobooks is good for your mental health
• 5 places to get audiobooks, including one that is 100% free

3 Stress Resets That Work Almost Instantly

Stressed out? A recent Gallup poll shows one in two Americans is stressed out every day.

The poll found it's affecting how much and how well we sleep. And women are slightly more stressed than men.

Dealing with that level of negative emotion is exhausting. But it doesn't have to be.

You can lessen stress in just minutes with a few resets to your routine and lifestyle.

On this Dying to Ask:

• 3 simple stress resets for when life gets overwhelming
• The science behind why they work
• And a blueprint on how to fit them into your day when you're turning into a stress ball

From 'Paralyzed To Powerful' With Robert Paylor

What would you do if your whole life changed in one moment? Robert Paylor can actually answer that question because it happened to him.

He's defying odds and inspiring people across the country.

His new book is called Paralyzed to Powerful. It's equal parts memoir and motivation and tells the story of what happened after he suffered a catastrophic injury in a televised college rugby match in 2017.

Robert Paylor was a rugby star at Jesuit High School who went on to play for Cal Berkeley. His injury happened during an illegal play during the 2017 National Championships.

It left Robert a quadriplegic.

Paylor says, "On day one, I was told I'd be lucky if I could feed myself, so what I'm doing today is just sort of miraculous. And I'm taking everything I can get."

Paylor went through years of grueling rehabilitation and credits his athlete's mindset, faith and support from family and friends for all that happened next.

Paylor graduated with a business degree at Cal, became a motivational speaker, got married and is expecting his first child.

Life looks a lot different eight years later.

"I can walk 500 yards in my walker now. I've had about 80% return in my upper body and it continues to progress here 8 years out," says Paylor.

Get ready for a mindset masterclass.

On this Dying to Ask:

• The impact of mindset in any physical recovery
• The question Robert asks himself to push through hard days
• How to find purpose in life's darkest challenges
• And a reality check on who really benefits when you forgive someone

Change Your Day By Saying 'Tell Me Something Good'

Want an instant pick me up? The simple phrase "tell me something good" can dramatically change your day.

What happens when someone tells you something great doing on in their life?

Unless you're the jealous type, it probably makes you feel good too. You get a little hit of dopamine just by hearing another person's excitement.

But why is that?

The answer is something scientists call emotional contagion. It's the idea that moods spread, for better or worse. Contagions typically aren't good. But, in this case, catching someone else's joy can actually lift your mood.

If you've ever been dragged down by a "Debbie Downer," you know how powerful negative energy can be. The flip side is true too: get around someone who's celebrating, grateful, or just genuinely happy, and you'll likely feel lighter yourself.

It's a concept called freudenfreude and you can read more about it at this article I reference in the episode.

That's the power of asking the simple phrase: "Tell me something good."

On this Dying to Ask:

• Why sharing good news is so powerful
• Three ways it impacts your connection with others
• And what happened when I asked some of my KCRA colleagues at the station to tell me something good

 

 

Avoid the September Scaries with Teo and Fitz

If you’ve ever felt a little anxious as summer winds down and routines ramp up, you’re not alone. You might have a case of the September Scaries.

My morning show partner, Teo Torres, is my co-host on this episode, where we talk about this end-of-summer phenomenon.

Think of it as the seasonal cousin of the Sunday Scaries.

The September Scaries are not an official diagnosis. But psychologists say they're the real deal, and re-framing your view of September can help.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Teo and I will break down what the September Scaries are and what it isn't
• And we'll offer you a five-step plan to give it a try

Disclaimer: We also get off topic A LOT because, well, we're us. 

Other places to listen

CLICK HERE to listen on iTunes
CLICK HERE to listen on Stitcher
CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel