RECESS: 200 Episodes, Kelly's Sledgehammer Incident, Klamath River Reset & A Modifiable Dementia Risk

It's our 200th episode of RECESS, and Juliet and I are marking the milestone with laughs, a little blood, and a lot of gratitude. We look back at the last 50 episodes — we runs through the extraordinary lineup of women guests who've joined us, a powerhouse group that deserves more ears, and highlight one of our favorite recent episodes with John John Florence.

Then yes, we have to address the incident. On the 4th of July, at the Marin County Fair, I picked up the child's sledgehammer, went a little too hard on the high striker, and the thing bounced back and opened up my head. A surgeon friend materialized to administer three staples and with zero blood on the white shirt, we were on our way back into the fair for fireworks. But it will go down in history as "the year that Kelly sledgehammered his head".

From there, we get into the World Cup and give a long-overdue shoutout to the coaches and support staff doing the invisible, exhausting work that makes elite performance possible at that level. We also land on why Haaland wearing his mom's name on his jersey might be the coolest thing happening in sports right now.

We just got back from a week on the Klamath River - no cell service, no Wi-Fi, days of being barefoot and sleeping under the stars. We were stoked to run into the Paddle Tribal Waters group on the river - a program reconnecting indigenous youth to their land through whitewater kayaking. Our bodies felt incredible. Our nervous systems got a full reset. We can't recommend fully disconnecting out in nature enough.

And finally, we share a note we got from Jason Sacks (CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance, and prior TRS Podcast guest), who emailed us after reading an Ambush newsletter piece we ran on hearing loss and dementia risk — because hearing loss is the single biggest modifiable dementia risk factor. After getting his first hearing aid, Jason is here to say that the stigma around doing something about it needs to go.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why the women guests on RECESS over the last 50 episodes represent some of the most essential health and performance conversations in the feed
• What actually happens when Kelly takes a child's sledgehammer to the head at a county fair — and why zero blood ended up on the white shirt
• How elite coaching staffs manage travel, fueling, and real-time decision-making during the World Cup
• Why Haaland putting his mom's name on his jersey is about more than a jersey — and what mitochondria have to do with athletic potential
• What the removal of the Klamath River dams has made possible for salmon, ecosystems, and indigenous communities
• How the Paddle Tribal Waters program is using whitewater kayaking to reconnect lindegenous youth to their river
• Why a week barefoot on uneven terrain, off your phone, and sleeping outside resets your body and nervous system in ways daily training can't replicate
• Why hearing loss is the #1 modifiable dementia risk factor — outranking smoking, education, and depression — and how treating it can change everything

Key Highlights:

(00:00) Welcome back to RECESS and a milestone: 200 episodes

(01:30) Kelly's pick: John John Florence, humility, and what makes a truly extraordinary athlete

(02:20) Highlights from the last 50 episodes: the women guest lineup and why it matters that downloads drop when women are featured

(04:10) Lisa's pick: Cesalina Gracie, training for Everest, and the unexpected controversy the episode sparked

(05:00) The 4th of July high striker incident: one child's sledgehammer, three staples, and a surgeon who showed up to the fair

(09:44) Kelly reads the actual text exchange from that night, including Kelly's medical self-assessment: "cut plus"

(11:10) World Cup and a shoutout to the coaches and support staff doing the invisible work behind elite performance

(14:45) Haaland's jersey, mitochondria inheritance, and why your mom is the reason you can suffer

(16:47) Kelly's session with Rich Roll on his new Open Container format and what it looked like to problem-solve in real time with an elite athlete

(20:06) The Klamath River: 300 miles of free-flowing water following the largest dam removal project in U.S. history

(20:50) Paddle Tribal Waters: indigenous youth returning to the river through whitewater kayaking, two years in the making

(22:29) Running into the group at camp, and what it feels like to watch teenagers discover a superpower

(25:29) What a week on the river — barefoot, phone-free, sleeping outside — actually does to your body and nervous system

(27:08) Bird Club, the initiation ritual, and a golden eagle with a seven-foot wingspan at ten feet off the windshield

(29:30) Hearing loss as the #1 modifiable dementia risk, and a follow-up from podcast guest Jason Sacks on his first week with a hearing aid

(32:54) Summer to-do list and send-off