Transcript
Rich: Welcome to episode 538 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts, coaches, Rich Soares, and April Spilde. And we are on a mission to help endurance athletes train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve greatness.
April: That's right. Today's show is all about opportunity, how to recognize it, how to prepare for it, and how to act when it shows up. Our guest, Melissa Forziat, has built an entire platform around one simple but powerful idea.
April: Take the donut. Yes, that's right. From working inside major international sporting organizations to launching a YouTube series that highlights athletes on long-term competitive paths, Melissa lives and breathes the mindset of intentional action.
April: This is a must listen episode for anyone chasing big goals in sport or in life. Welcome, Melissa. Welcome.
Melissa Forziat: Hi, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Rich: go have so much fun on this Friday afternoon. i can't wait to get into this.
April: Thank you.
Rich: We have a lot of great questions for you. really want to unpack your story and the and the message that you're delivering out there. But before we get into that, we're going to real quick announcement here.
Rich: Our grit to greatness announcements. We're going really just focus on one big thing here, and that is our velocity rides. Whether you are chasing competitive a competitive cycling advantage or just want to ride strong with like-minded athletes, velocity rides are where fitness meets fun. Join me, Coach Rich, tomorrow. i'm going to do a road race-inspired circuit race circus. We had a lot of fun with this last week. If you've ever wanted to know what it's like to race bikes at national championship level and the skills to handle circuit racing scenarios, you want to join me tomorrow. we are goingnna I've got all sorts of scenarios to throw at you where we are going to be hitting some pretty high intensity and a lot of different cadences for different reasons, and you're going to learn what is what and why. So i'm looking forward to that. There's a link here in the show notes. This will take you right to the ride tomorrow at 8 a.m. m Join a little early and get all your sensors connected and I will see you there.
Rich: All right, Melissa, we are excited to introduce you. in this episode of Grit Greatness Endurance, we are joined by keynote speaker, content creator, and YouTube host, Melissa Forziat, the light the voice but voice and face behind the powerful mantra, take the donut. Melissa's work is rooted in one simple idea. When opportunity shows up, you don't hesitate, you take actions.
April: Melissa brings a unique perspective shaped by years of experience working behind the scenes at the highest levels of international sport, combined with her current mission of spotlighting athletes chasing the biggest dreams of their lives. I love that. Through her YouTube channel and interview series, she is helping fans discover new sports, new stories, and the relentless pursuit required to compete at the elite level.
Rich: Love this. This conversation is going to more about sport, more than about sport. It's also about bold decisions, disciplined preparation, and the courage it it takes to say yes before you feel ready. That is courage, folks.
Rich: When you're vulnerable and still putting yourself out there, whether you're an an endurance athlete, coach, or somebody navigating your own journey, this episode will challenge you to stop waiting and start moving.
Rich: And yes, take the donut. Take the donut. Melissa, let's do this. Before we get into all of our meaty questions, we want our audience to get to know you a little bit better with this fun little game, two Truths and a Lie.
Rich: We are going to ask you for three statements about yourself, two of which are true. One is a deceitful lie. April and I have our pen, we have our paper, and we are ready when you are.
Melissa Forziat: Okay. All right. So first I worked as a professional landscaper. Second, I did improv comedy for five years.
April: Thank you.
Melissa Forziat: And And third, I lived in Switzerland for two years.
Rich: April, you want to go first you want me to?
April: Yes, I'm just, uh, I I'll go first. I'm processing. i can definitely Melissa. I've been kind of sleuthing on you since we found out we were going have you on the pod and you have a delightful sense of humor.
April: So I think the improv is the truth. And, I definitely think I could see landscaping. You've got really, uh, really cool design. around you. I'm going to say that you did not live in Switzerland. You probably lived in Norway or Denmark or something like that. So I'm going to say Switzerland is the lie.
Rich: Ooh, the location on on a technicality sort of, right?
April: Yes.
Rich: Like a little misleading technicality? Interesting. I'm actually going to go the opposite way. I really do believe that the improv comedy, I just had that, I don't know, that i don't know aura about you. I think that you know you can handle the standup.
Rich: I do like the art in the background. It does sort of speak a landscaper to me. So yeah, I think
April: Are you going with my answer?
Rich: oh
Rich: Landscaper. Oh, yeah no, i think that I think the lie is the location. i don't think that you lived in Switzerland for two years. I think it was, yeah, I guess it's the same, right?
Rich: It's the same same conclusion.
April: Yeah.
Rich: Yeah, I guess I walked myself into it.
April: Yeah, you did.
Rich: No, let's do this. I'm going to go opposite of that. We're going say that was a truth and that Landscaper was a lie. you were It was something else.
Melissa Forziat: Wow, well, April is correct. i have lived in other countries when I was working with organizing committees for major sport events, but not Switzerland.
Rich: I love
Melissa Forziat: i Now, the technicality of the landscaping bit was, you know, i got paid for landscaping for one day, but I consider that
April: Ha
Rich: that.
Rich: i love that
Melissa Forziat: And let me tell you something, never again, the number of holes I dug.
April: ha!
Melissa Forziat: I was like how can how can there be more holes to dig?
April: Physically and metaphorically, yes.
Rich: Forziat, are you taking another break?
April: but
Melissa Forziat: You know, it was really funny. A friend of mine, it was his business. He needed help for the day and I came out and helped him. He made the mistake of asking me, like, let me know if you have any questions.
Rich: Uh...
Melissa Forziat: So over the next eight or nine hours, every 30 minutes or so, I'd come over with a stupid question. Something like, you know, if a tree falls on a mime in the forest, does the mime make a noise?
Melissa Forziat: And he'd be like, what?
Melissa Forziat: It's what got me through.
Rich: Oh boy.
April: Oh, I love that.
Rich: You know, we're going to need you to help us write our fun segments going forward here.
April: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: April does a great job with those. I don't want to take that job from her.
Rich: Tell us, tell us about the standup comedy.
Melissa Forziat: So I did improv, which was kind of an interesting thing because they were drop in classes.
April: Oh, please.
Rich: Okay.
Melissa Forziat: And I did them weekly for about five years just to have fun. But it was strange because in that, like I was really the only person in that community who was doing it just for fun at the time. So people would be like, don't you wanna perform? Don't you wanna be in a group? Don't you wanna be on stage? And this is like, no, I just wanna come here and make things up for a couple hours and go home.
Melissa Forziat: And actually it ended up having a lot to do with my speaking style. because I've found that as a public speaker, you come in with prepared material, but improv is all about the energy you're getting from an audience. And if something happens in the room, you want to be able to use that, respond to it, make it part of what happened. That's the special stuff. And I found that that background helped me a lot in being able to roll with it and not being afraid of what happens that's unexpected.
April: I think that's probably one of the hardest things you can do is be okay with improvising comedy. So kudos to you, Melissa. Wow.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah, it's scary at first, but it's, you know, you kind of realize that there are rules within no rules and you can sort of get comfortable with it in either direction depending on what you need.
April: And I love that you loved it.
Melissa Forziat: But i I learned that like nobody knows what's going to happen on stage. It's not like I don't get it, but they all do. Yeah, we're all just figuring it out. And this conversation is improv actually. So everything we do in life is being made up as we go. And i think when you can embrace that, it makes it a little easier.
Rich: Our best interviews are when we go off script, right? I would say like, you know, we'll we'll we'll prepare some questions, but what I love is when the conversation just takes off and then we're like, oh, okay, it's time, you know, time has flown.
April: Wow. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: yeah
April: Oh, I appreciate you sharing that. And the I think this, uh, colorful conversation into taking the doughnuts be a lot of fun, Melissa. So I I'm curious about this phrase, right? That's not a common thing. What was the Genesis for that idea in general and the name specifically?
Melissa Forziat: Yeah, I'll tell you the story about that. So it it was a thing that happened when I was in college. And I had this class, one semester, I had this class in a building that I didn't usually get to go into. And it was this really special building. I went to Brown University and there was this building on campus that looked different from all the others. And I felt cool being in it.
Melissa Forziat: like something about it. Like there was a fireplace. It was two-story, like, I don't know. It was just so gorgeous. And when you walked in, there was this lobby area. and There was always this like big marble table in the middle of the room with this huge bouquet of flowers.
Melissa Forziat: And then I'd walk past it and I'd go to my classroom, which was this like small study with these colorful books lining the walls. So the thing about the building was that I just felt like the most sophisticated version of myself when I walked into it.
Melissa Forziat: It was like I was the uncool version of me outside the building.
Rich: Thank
Melissa Forziat: And then I stepped foot in and I suddenly became a little bit cooler. And one day i walked into this building It was just like any other day, except this time I walked in and on that table in the center of the room, there was a box with one donut in it.
Melissa Forziat: And look, I'm a real overthinker. i think you're going to find that out in a minute here. So I look at this box and it just it's this jarring feeling of like, wait, that's out of place. That's not a thing I normally see in this room.
Melissa Forziat: And it's way lower class than everything else that I'm looking at.
Melissa Forziat: And I was like, this can't be right. So I walked up a little closer and I look inside the box. was like, yeah, that's a box of doughnut. And I kind of wanted it, but then I'm sitting there thinking about it.
Melissa Forziat: I'm like, well, okay, wait, but who's were these? What were they from? Like, what kind, what kind is this even? It's got a filling. I don't know what it is. What happened to this?
April: Yes.
Melissa Forziat: Don't like, I was going through all you were thinking it too. Like what happened to this donut?
Rich: Did somebody lick it?
Melissa Forziat: Yeah.
April: Yes. It's a videotape.
Melissa Forziat: Like you're, it's amazing what can happen in the brain. And then now I've been like in the amount of time it took to ask all of those questions, more questions came up like, wait, is this an experiment?
April: yes
Melissa Forziat: Is this, is there somebody watching this?
April: so videotape
Melissa Forziat: Is do they have like a clipboard? It's an experiment on greed. If I take this donut, I'm greedy. They'll just decide who I am by that one action forever. That's who I am. i it was too way too much for me. Right. So I decided not to take the donut and not only I specifically remember this. Not only did I decide not to take it, I remember thinking who would take that donut? Like who in their right mind would go through all of this and decide to take this random donut in a box on a table?
Melissa Forziat: So I've made this decision. I'm really comfortable with it. I walk to the classroom. I'm the first one in I'm ready to go. i spread my books out. Just need the people to arrive. The next human I encounter, the next person who comes into the room is a boy from my class eating the donut.
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: I look at this guy, I'm like, what?
April: Thank you.
Melissa Forziat: So I say to him, oh you took that donut. It's funny because I saw that donut and I thought who would take that donut? He takes this big bite out of his donut. He looks me right in the eye and he's like, oh, it's funny you thought that because I saw it. I thought, yum, a donut.
Melissa Forziat: I was like, wow, it was that simple for him. and i I sat in that room, watched him eat the rest of this donut. And I thought that is the difference between us today.
Melissa Forziat: you know, like I kind of wanted it and I didn't take it. And he did, he went with the impulse and as stupid a story as it is, as silly a thing as it is, it has played out like that for so many situations in my adulthood. Either you know I'm leaving an opportunity on the table or somebody else's, or they're thinking about it. Oh, I shouldn't apply for that job because I don't have this one thing on the job. like So many situations happen where you think, that is interesting, but and then fill in the blank of why you're not going to go after it.
Melissa Forziat: And by being able to take this silly little story about a donut and using it as sort of my inspiration, now i can say, i don't want that to be another donut I left on the table.
Melissa Forziat: So I go around the country, around the world, talking to people about taking the donut and going after what they want. And I think having a weird little story like that gets us a little off center.
Melissa Forziat: So that when we're thinking about opportunities, it doesn't feel like it's big stakes. It feels like, no, this is just an opportunity and you take it or you don't. And do you want to be the person who left that donut on the table or the one who came in eating it? So yeah, that's where it comes from. And it's, it's been a fun theme to work with and it pushes me every day.
April: I find that so fascinating, Melissa, because you, you, when you were in the, in the room with the donut, you played out this whole moral code and it, it arrived at this question of who, who the heck do you think you are taking this right? Right. Who would do this? Right. And then.
April: what I loved about it is the, the other students answer. Like I simply wanted it. it was looked yummy. And I didn't, I didn't stop myself with all of this ridiculous storytelling, if you will, about the moral center or what's, what's right. And morality is good. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we do anything that's illegal, immoral, unethical, but what I'm saying is like, how many times just to reiterate you, do we cheat ourselves out of opportunity because we don't think we're the right fit?
April: And I just, that's so powerful.
Rich: Yeah. the The whole, who am i to take that opportunity? Who am I to lead that organization? Who am I to put myself you know you know out there?
April: Out there. Mm-hmm.
Rich: And you know and you're flipping it around and going, who am I not to?
Melissa Forziat: it's It's time to do it, right?
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: I mean, if you're not doing it for yourself, nobody else is going to do it for you.
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: Or it's very rare that somebody else is going to advocate for you when you're not being when you're not willing to do it for yourself.
April: right yeah
Melissa Forziat: And I think I got lucky that it happened in a silly low stakes way. And so like when I got into higher stakes situations in my life, I had more practice with thinking about this and with saying, no, this is just another doughnut.
April: hmm
Rich: and it And it makes it, it also makes it friendly, right? These little opportunities, you know, that little just language makes this little, you know, do I take take advantage of opportunities?
April: Mm-hmm.
Rich: Just makes it nice and friendly and easy to digest, so to speak.
April: Mm-hmm.
Rich: all pun intended.
Melissa Forziat: And you know, that's really important. Let's do the puns. it's It's important to make it friendly because it doesn't sound like a big deal, but then when you translate it into your own life, like whoever's listening to this right now, think about an opportunity you want to go after. And chances are, it's a little scarier.
Melissa Forziat: Chances are it's something that you've been nervous about, or you feel like there's some stakes involved.
April: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: And so like, it actually is something where we need to make it friendlier. We need to make it feel more approachable because otherwise the what ifs could make us, you know, stay up at night.
Melissa Forziat: But this is just like, no, if you want the thing, do something about it. And, you know, to try to couch it in this fun language,
Melissa Forziat: can make it more approachable and a little bit easier.
Rich: Yeah.
Rich: You've worked behind the scenes of some major sporting events, and maybe you can even share some of that with our audience. And now you're in front of a camera, you know, in your own your own YouTube channel telling athletes stories. Now, you've been on both sides of, you know, of this.
Rich: How has it changed the way that you view opportunity having both, you know, been a part of those major sporting events and now telling athletes stories?
Melissa Forziat: Oh, there's so many ways to answer that question. i think one thing is just to sort of look back at my career path to this point and say it was all about making and finding the opportunities where I could.
Rich: Thank you.
Melissa Forziat: There have been almost, maybe there was one time in my life where I took a job that was posted. Every other situation I've been in a position either was created for me or I had started the business or I'm going after clients.
Melissa Forziat: the The whole beginning of my career, like you said, I worked with sport organizations and sport events. I worked with the USOC when it was still the USOC. I worked with at the organizing committees for Torino in 2006, for Vancouver in 2010, for Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2011.
Melissa Forziat: which meant going to those countries, living there for some amount of time and working those events. So I got this foundation working in sport in a number of different ways.
Melissa Forziat: And then, you know, when I started my business, that side of my life dropped away and sport wasn't really involved as much. But what's been so interesting is that because my business evolved to where I'm doing speaking and I'm doing YouTube posting. And I was doing a lot of interviews about going after opportunity in life, but I was never, I wasn't, when I looked, I looked last year and I realized I hadn't really talked with a lot of athletes.
Melissa Forziat: And I realized that I was having a hard time making the approaches because I felt like the theme take the donut was kind of against the brand of doing like a healthy activity.
Melissa Forziat: And so recently this This year I've launched a new series called the journey to LA. I'm on purpose, just talking with elite athletes who are hopefuls for competing in l LA in 2028.
Melissa Forziat: And I just said, look, we're not having these conversations as a multi-sport series. We're waiting until you get to the event to tell their stories, but why not tell their stories beforehand? And when I started talking with these athletes, I realized that they were totally into the theme.
Melissa Forziat: that the metaphor of it applied and that I had been making decisions about who would and wouldn't resonate with this theme wrongly. And so that's been an interesting journey for me. I think just the the whole process, the fact that it's sort of come back around, it's been in a way full circle and that the community that I had left so long ago is embracing what I'm doing now.
Melissa Forziat: So there's been a lot of discovery in this.
April: Melissa, I'm going to throw a curve ball at you, a sprinkle covered curve ball.
Rich: you
April: But I want to ask you because something that you said earlier about the story and what, what this involves really stuck out to me playing devil's advocate because of what people will do or what they've been conditioned to around taking opportunity, right? A lot of people might equate that with selfishness.
April: How do you reframe that thought? Because it does hurt people to continuously leave opportunities on the table out of a fear of selfishness or a guilt, if you will.
Melissa Forziat: Well, I guess the question is what makes us think that we can control who else gets the opportunity or if the opportunity will still, we we don't have that kind of power to make decisions about who will get the opportunity. If not us, we can only pursue the things that seem right for us and hope that they are in fact the right fit.
Melissa Forziat: So I think, I think there's that. I think the other thing too, is if you don't take the opportunity is how could you give a hand up to somebody else later? You know, if if something really is a good fit for you and you feel passionate about it and you want to do it and it wants you back and you can make this interesting life from it, that then potentially puts you in a position to bring more people in, to call more people in and to decide what you're going to do with the voice or the posturing or the position that it gives you.
April: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: And if you've left that opportunity on the table, you never get to make those choices. So, and even beyond all that, it sometimes I think we forget about the people watching us. No matter who you are, there's probably somebody who's quietly observing what you're doing.
Melissa Forziat: Maybe somebody that seems that you know is close to you that sees you every day. Maybe somebody you don't. I don't know if you've ever had this happen, rich or April, where somebody's like emailed you out of the blue years after a thing happened and said, Hey, do you remember when this thing happened on that one day? you know, it inspired me to do this.
Melissa Forziat: And if you've ever had something like that happen, you realize like you have no idea the ripple effects that you're creating both in what you say and put out there and in what you choose not to do. So I think, you know, Richard said at the beginning of this, like, you know, the, we all boats lift, you know, and I think,
Melissa Forziat: That is true. And all boats can also go nowhere. you know And so it's like, you know, how can we make sure that we're, we're taking those opportunities to allow for growth for everybody around us?
Rich: Yeah, you know, boy, i love I love how you framed that. And one of the things that I think that a lot of our, even our athletes that we coach don't don't recognize is that they are making an impact, that they are setting an example for the next person who is starting their journey. You know these people that might be starting their journey at the beginning of their journey, right? They may have just found endurance sports or this goal, you know,
Rich: And they don't quite, write they don't even know that they're worthy of setting an example yet, but they are. Their families are watching them. Their friends and coworkers are watching them.
Rich: I mean, you're you're spot on. i think that...
Rich: and it's not you know It's not just content creators that are you know making an impact it's it's and and and athletes that are on a journey LA. one you know and and Anybody who shows up consistently is making a difference.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah.
Rich: For those athletes that you talk, you know, do you, I'm just curious, maybe you can talk a little bit about some of the athletes that you've, you've interviewed. do you have a hard time, you know, yeah sometimes athletes feel like they're not quite ready yet to share their story because they're not, they don't quite know that they're worthy of sharing their story.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah. And i think I think that's something that i'm hoping I'm hoping to change it a little bit. I'm not going to change a whole culture of how media approaches talking about coverage for sport events.
Melissa Forziat: But I think when you really think, when I think about why I started the journey to LA, you know, having worked with these sport events in the media operations department, I am so aware that media coverage and like putting the spotlight on these athletes, it tends to be that when we get to the event, the spotlight is bright for a few people and then it's gone for almost everybody.
Rich: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: And people, the people watching get inspired for a minute and forget right after. And I'm not sure that really serves anybody because at the end of the day,
Melissa Forziat: You know, these athletes are working for their goals now. They're inspiring now. They need inspiration now. And their stories are unfolding today.
Melissa Forziat: And this is part of the journey. Like the thing that we get interested in when we watch coverage of major sport events is their story. So why not, why not drop in, in the middle of it and see how it's going And so I think it's really important to share these stories because like I was a gymnast growing up. I hate to tell it. I hate to tell your audience I wasn't an endurance athlete, but I was a gymnast and, you know, I bet everybody could name Simone Biles. If you said, who's a great gymnast name, another one, you know, i think that a lot of, uh, viewers, millions and millions of people assume
Melissa Forziat: that every elite athlete is like a Simone Biles or like a Michael Phelps or like a name your name your top athlete in any sport.
Melissa Forziat: And they're mostly not. A lot of them are working full-time jobs, trying to you know figure out how to make ends meet. A lot of them are trying to figure out how to pay their rent. A lot of them are you know trying to figure out how to string together flight miles so that they can get to their next world cup event so that they can qualify to something. A lot of them are trying to figure out how to land a sponsorship. That's a product sponsorship and not a cash sponsorship. And, you know, for so many athletes, they, that's what it looks like, but we don't hear about those stories very much because we're not covering them. So my hope is that
Melissa Forziat: by people sort of coming forward and sharing where they are, other people can say, oh, that's what it often looks like. And they can feel like their journey is valid, that their progress is valid, and they can feel inspired to see somebody else who's where they are or where they can realistically be
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: And just hear a little bit about what that looks like. I mean, how how would you know what it looks like if you've never heard anybody talk about it? But there's probably somebody out there on a similar journey to what you're trying to do who's a little further down the road and could give you information that could be valuable.
Melissa Forziat: So I think it's important that people feel like it's okay to talk about their stories before they feel like they've landed the big deal or won the big gold medal or, you know, you don't need that to have a story.
Rich: Yeah, there's it there's a dozen there's dozens of ways to get there and you're telling the story. Your guests are telling the story of all of those gazillion ways of getting there. And somebody's going to hear one that makes sense to them.
Rich: Yeah, that's cool.
April: the the elites, if you will. So i don't know how else to put that other than i appreciate what you're doing. i think that those stories need to be told and they don't need to wait until a finish line or a podium to do it. So thank you for that.
Melissa Forziat: Well, and beyond that, even, I mean, if you wait until a major event to tell a story, you only get to cover the people who made it that far, you know? And what about the people who got injured? What about the people who were on the bubble and didn't quite qualify? You know, are there stories not worthy of being told? Like, I think...
Melissa Forziat: you know, one of the things that I'm very aware of with the journey to LA is that there there are some people that I'm interviewing who may not end up competing on the biggest stage in the world.
Melissa Forziat: And that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be hearing who they are and what their process is. And it doesn't mean we can't support them on the way to trying to get to where they want to Cause you know,
Melissa Forziat: if we're so inspired by somebody's process, why not be part of it?
Rich: Thank
April: Well, I want to know what, with all the interviews that you've done and the people that we've spoken with that are on this journey, are there any themes, mindsets, any common traits that are showing up regardless of the discipline?
Melissa Forziat: You know, what's been coming up a lot. so i The structure of my interviews is I'm asking a standard list of questions to each athlete because i I want to know things like what lengths they're going to, what sacrifices they're making, who they want to thank.
Melissa Forziat: One of the questions that's coming up in every interview is what advice would you give to young athletes? And a lot of athletes, and this has been a theme for sure, they've talked about
April: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: the joy and the love of sport and how important it is to have that. And it's really been striking me that, you know, when you think about people who there's a whole spectrum of how people feel about physical activity.
Melissa Forziat: You know, there's people who are elite athletes. There's people who are doing new year's resolutions. There are people who have weight loss goals and they feel like they should, but they don't really want to when they're pushing themselves every day. And when you look at this, when you, when you look at how people approach their mindset towards doing to for towards exercising, doing physical activity or doing you know sports at a higher level consistently, these people who are at the elite level are saying, i do it because I love it.
Melissa Forziat: And yes, there are days I don't love, but i do it because I love it.
April: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: And it's coming through over and over again. And I think that goes to show you that, you know, having a true enthusiasm and passion passion for what you're doing will often push you to do the things that are hard to do to get where you want to get.
Melissa Forziat: Can you get to the highest levels without having a love for it? I'm sure there's people who have, but it's coming up over and over again. So I think, you know, consider what is it you love to do? And maybe that's the thing you drive your passion towards.
Rich: So Melissa, you've done dozens of interviews already. What's something that like, what's one story that really just, you didn't you didn't see coming? yeah Something that really surprised you?
Melissa Forziat: I don't know if I would say i didn't see it coming, but, uh, like the thing that keeps sticking with me, and again, this is not a triathlon or, or distance or, uh, anything like that story, an endurance athlete story, but it's from wrestling.
Melissa Forziat: I was speaking to Peyton Jacobson, who's a Greco Roman wrestler. And I asked him what advice he'd give to young athletes and my goodness, the intensity, He was like looked right into the camera and he was like, you know, I was a really small athlete.
Melissa Forziat: I was the smallest kid in any sport I did. And I had a lot of people, including coaches, tell me I couldn't do it. And he said, if you are an athlete like that, don't let anybody, including a coach, tell you you can't do it. because And he looks like right at the camera. He's like, because you can do it.
Melissa Forziat: And he said it so softly. and it haunts me. I can't even like, there's something that I felt like he was, I'm not even, it's not, that's not even exactly my situation.
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: and it just like went right into my soul. So I think you just never know what's a really important message that somebody wants to get out there. But I've definitely also spoken with, I've i've spoken with some paratriathletes who have been just fascinating in their stories of like how they got started and all the moving parts in their lives that support them in the process. So there's a lot, there's a lot with this.
Melissa Forziat: But that's one example that stuck with me.
Rich: Awesome. That's great. and And we do have a couple of athletes that we would love for you to to talk to. Mike Murphy in particular, he is a blind athlete who is pursuing path to LA 2028 as either a cyclist or triathlete. So, and he is an amazing athlete. So I'm really hope hoping he gets there, but.
Melissa Forziat: Mike, your invitation has officially been extended.
Rich: Yeah, exactly.
Melissa Forziat: Take the donut. I'll talk to you soon.
April: Melissa, I have one more question for you How has hosting this series changed you either in how you view success or how you define winning?
Melissa Forziat: Okay. How I view success or how I define winning. I'm going to take that answer in maybe a slightly different direction. I'm going to bring you right into my mindset right now.
Melissa Forziat: When I launched this, so we are, you know, not quite two and a half years out from the start of l LA. And i when I started it, it was, it was just under two and a half years.
Melissa Forziat: And I sat with it and I thought, you know what, if I said I was going to do an interview a week I could probably do that. Like based on the interest I had already had pre-launched, the number of interviews I had already done i was like, yeah, I could do that pretty easily.
Melissa Forziat: Could I do two a week? And that seemed very, very unlikely. i mean, when you actually look at the number of people on the team in Paris, it was like all up like 800 something.
Melissa Forziat: So if you're looking to do 200, 250 interviews, That's a fairly healthy percentage.
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: I don't know how sustainable it'll be and how long-term I can do that, but I wanted to create that much opportunity for people to tell their stories. And I think that, I guess the answer to your question, in April, like what what am i learning is just like, maybe sometimes you have to try to do something bigger than you thought.
Melissa Forziat: And I guess we'll see, talk to me again two years where I'm at with this.
April: Oh my gosh, i love it.
Melissa Forziat: But my hope is that by that point, a lot of stories have been told and a lot of people are thinking about these athletes well before they end up on TV.
Melissa Forziat: And maybe it allows for more opportunities for those athletes and maybe it causes more inspiration. And if I'm playing smaller, maybe it doesn't have that kind of impact.
April: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Forziat: And this the side thing that's been interesting is that because I'm dropping these interviews in pairs, and I'm able to link them to each other, I can see somebody shows up on an interview about fencing, and they find a sailor before they've left. And it's like, I didn't know I was going to learn about a triathlete today when I came in looking to watch an interview about flag football. And i think I can see it happening and I don't know, I'm just kind of building the plane as I fly and hoping that like, will that will this be the lesson I've learned if you talk to me in two years? Hopefully, i like just try to go bigger than you think and see if people want to support that process. and
Melissa Forziat: We'll see.
April: but but
Melissa Forziat: but
April: Brilliant, brilliant.
Rich: You know, there are a lot of, a lot of people listening to this that are endurance athletes, but there are, you know, people that are probably listening to this that are, you know, you know, adjacent to that in some way.
Rich: And, you know most people listening to this have got, you know, what they would consider some kind of a big goal, you know, whether that's just, you know, losing some, losing a few pounds or it's, you know, qualifying for a world championship.
Rich: What, you know, what's, what's one donut, like if somebody's hesitating somewhere on their journey, what's one donut they should stop hesitating on this season that would really kind of change their future self?
Melissa Forziat: I think that's a really individualized question. And I bet everybody listening to this already knows their answer. You know, like it doesn't have to be the thing four years from now or 10 years from now. It could be the thing that's available to you tomorrow.
Melissa Forziat: It could be the thing that's immediately in front of you. And I think a lot of times we know, and sometimes we've been putting it off and you know, it could it could be that it has something to do with your training, or it could be that it has something to do with finding a mentor, or it could be that it has something to do with finding like an accountability partner or a training partner who can keep pushing you.
Melissa Forziat: I think a lot of it has to do with where are you in your specific journey right now and What is that very next step?
Melissa Forziat: Because you can't be 10 steps away tomorrow. that's not where That's not how it works. you know You have to take the next step and every step is an opportunity. So I think hopefully everybody listening to this can take a second to answer that question for themselves before they finish this podcast.
Melissa Forziat: And this is your sign. i Move forward. We're all saying it.
Rich: Well, that is going to be our challenge to our athletes, I think, as we roll this out and promote that promote this over the weekend. So I love that wisdom.
April: Can I ask just one tiny teensy tiny little follow-up question? Genuinely curious. What is Rich? What is your donut? Melissa? What is your donut? What is it currently right now?
April: and I'll share mine too.
Melissa Forziat: Who do you want to go first?
Rich: Melissa, guest first.
April: Yes.
Melissa Forziat: because you you can't, you can't do a thing like this without people, you know? And so i think,
April: Right.
Melissa Forziat: I don't know how big this can be, but I'd like to see. And I think there's a lot of benefit for everybody and knowing that there are other people out there like them in whatever phase of that their journey that they're in And so for for me, this the journey to LA is the donut. It's a little amorphous right now and You know, maybe it's a box of munchkins.
Melissa Forziat: I'm not sure, but it's it's growing.
April: Oh, it's still good.
Melissa Forziat: And i I think part of that is the mindset of like, I'm going to let it grow without making decisions right now about exactly what it needs to look like.
April: That's great.
Rich: I love that.
Rich: Well, I know I grabbed a donut about 538 episodes ago, 537 episodes ago when we started this podcast, but most currently, i would have to say it's actually working with para athletes. i you know i got a para coaching certification a couple of years ago, and yeah just in yeah this opportunity, you know coaching Mike came up on me and And then his his pilot got injured. And now all of a sudden, I'm not only his coach, I'm also his pilot.
Rich: And now I've been in in in immersed into this new world that is absolutely calling me to serve and help athletes who, have you know, adaptive athletes.
April: Hmm.
Rich: There... Their outlook on life, their outlook on sport is so different from you know some very well-bodied athletes you know who may wake up and say, oh, I have to i have to i have to train today or i've got to do that workout today or that workout sucks.
Rich: These athletes are waking up every day going, I'm so blessed. That even without my sight or without my limb, i get this opportunity to be an athlete today and and and and fu fulfill a dream.
Rich: Gives me chills, honestly.
Melissa Forziat: It's beautiful.
April: I got goosebumps.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah.
April: Well, my donut it has evolved quite a bit. And Rich has been on this journey with me for about two years, walking through some major life decisions. One of them, chiefly, is being promoted to chief master sergeant in the Air Force. And that's been a It's been an 18 year journey to this point. And I, it was very, uh, hairy, scary as to what that meant. So my next step, if you will, my next opportunity is finding where my impact is going to be in this next rank in this next
April: position and and all the things that entails and how can I make a positive impact there? So that's been, it's been over my head, if you will, for, for a few, few long months and years. So, that's, that's kind of what's next for me is just this stepping up and have an unknown space.
Melissa Forziat: April, do you feel like you have latitude in deciding how you want to show up there?
April: It is, I'm trying to think of how to answer this. That makes the most sense. I know I will be me. I know that regardless of the uniform, regardless of my position, I'm still doing the things that matter to me being a triathlete, being a coach, being on this podcast, other chiefs might find that to be selfish.
April: And to me, this is how I can reach more and more people with all these identities that I have that can inspire someone to do something audacious, fun, joyful, something that they didn't think was possible. Right. So I look at it like, Hey, if I can be authentically me and do this, why can't I have my donut? You need need to truly mean that I'm not just being flippant either. I mean, truly that's, that was my take the donut moment with, with, um,
April: with this whole change, Melissa, because I was considering not accepting my stripe because I didn't think I could make the two things fit. So, this was, uh, this was a really big challenge for me and it's been a great growth opportunity in every sense of the word, but it's also been one of those things where I've had to, I've had to challenge old ways of thinking.
Melissa Forziat: Well, I guess we do that one day and one decision at a time, right?
April: That's right. that's why this is so timely for all of us. love this. Okay. We are going to segue. i think that was a good segue there into our fun segment. This is all about identifying the donut here.
April: Melissa, I named this fun segment glazed and confused. So we're going to buckle up.
Melissa Forziat: Okay. All right.
April: This segment has no nutritional value and 100% joy. We are calling it glazed and confused in honor of our guest. Here's the premise.
Rich: Thank you.
April: Every endurance athlete has a donut guide. Tell me what kind of donut you are. And I will tell you exactly what kind of runner cyclists or triathlete you are. But I do want to prep preface this or pepper this with a little, uh, rapid fire. So, but before we get to the quiz, I'm going to ask you so for some hot takes.
April: There's no holds bar. You're going to give me your honest answer and not a lot of thinking here. Okay. So here's hot take number one, cake donuts are superior to yeast donuts.
Melissa Forziat: Oh, you're going to get me in trouble.
Melissa Forziat: I think so. i mean, i there are a lot of yeast donuts I like, but when I have a cake done, I like foods that are so dense, they sink directly to the bottom of your stomach.
April: Got some weight.
Rich: Good quality.
April: Yes.
April: You're a woman after my own heart, Melissa. I feel the same way, especially when you can cut it with some coffee. That is like, yeah.
Rich: Don't. Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: When people describe desserts as lighter than air, I'm like, probably not for me. Like I'll pass the moose and I'll take the cake down.
April: Oh, okay. All right. Hot take number two, maple bars are the ultimate long run fuel.
Melissa Forziat: That's probably true.
Melissa Forziat: I feel like there's gotta be like, Maple syrup, look, I don't know the the facts behind this whatsoever, so I'm just making this up as I go, but i but it's a hot take, right? I think like maple syrup has to be one of like the most high-calorie things, right?
April: Yep.
Melissa Forziat: like like it's just It's just straight up. like if If you were trying to replenish and you like just drank maple syrup, you that that's a choice, right? So if we're talking about a donut that's like really going to get you going...
Melissa Forziat: That feels like a good call, the maple bar. Yeah.
April: I like the logic. Rich, what do you think?
Rich: Oh, 100%. Maple bars, maple syrup. I mean, I'd just do shots of that.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah.
Rich: Let's go.
Melissa Forziat: Oof.
April: Didn't, oh, oh my gosh. His name is totally evading me right now. Dang it. He would, no limits.
April: Lionel, goodness gracious. Lionel Sanders used to do shots of maple syrup.
Rich: Lionel Sanders? Okay.
April: Yes.
Rich: Makes sense. He's Canadian.
April: Yeah.
Rich: Sure, why not?
April: Yeah. Number three.
Melissa Forziat: If it's available, that's what you go for. It's olive oil or maple syrup, you know?
April: number Oh my God. No. Oh, that's rough. Number three, powdered sugar donuts should be banned on group rides.
Melissa Forziat: feels right. Can I tell you, i have another, there's my original interview series is the take the donut interview series. So before I started the journey to LA, I've been interviewing people weekly for years where i invite all kinds of people on and I ask them like questions about going after opportunity in life. And the all of the questions are metaphorically based in the take the donut theme, except the first one where I asked what their favorite donut is. And for the first time ever, I had somebody say a powdered donut.
Melissa Forziat: And it was like, you monster. He was like, I want people to know I made this choice. Like I want evidence left behind.
Rich: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: and I'm not going to be ashamed of it.
April: Oh my gosh.
Melissa Forziat: I was like, wow. So I think if there are other people involved, uh, you know, you're going to be messy. You brought powdered donuts into the situation. And like, that's, that's a, that's a lot.
April: Oh yeah.
Melissa Forziat: That's a lot for anybody.
April: It's a choice for sure.
Rich: April, I think I have a new utility for powdered sugar donuts. When we teach the transition part of our camp and we're teaching like, how do you, like, where do you turn in your transition?
April: Yeah.
Rich: How do you mark that turn?
April: Oh my gosh.
Rich: You're just going to drop a donut the morning of the race on accident. And there's your, there's your little, you know, mark on the ground.
April: You're Powder Cloud.
Rich: That's perfect.
April: o
Rich: I love this. We're We're going to take the donut to transition training.
April: Genius.
Melissa Forziat: but leave that specific one behind because it's on the floor and it kind of was about the creative, but every other one in the box, take it.
April: Yes.
Rich: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
April: Yes.
April: Oh, okay. All right. Now we're warmed up. We're going to get into this glaze here. I'm going to name a donut and you tell me what kind of endurance athlete it is. I've got five different athletes. So as we go through, you get to pick between a marathon or a triathlete, ultra runner, gravel cyclists, or high rocks first donut, the plane glazed.
Melissa Forziat: That is one of the most popular answers when I ask the question what people's favorite donut is. And I also think maybe Marathoner is the first one that comes to mind for me on this.
April: Yeah.
Rich: mission
Melissa Forziat: what are you thinking, Rich?
Rich: I kind of agree with that. I was like, triathletes got too much going on Ultra runners are going too far.
April: Oh my gosh.
Rich: Gravel cyclists you need some crunch.
April: bri yeah
Rich: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And not high rocks, man, I don't know. That's like, you know, spring smidge for lunatics. I don't know.
April: my gosh I agree. This is all this says all marathoner to me. Uh, so three ding, ding, ding there. Uh, number two, the long John.
April: Who is this marathon or triathlete, ultra runner, gravel cyclist, high rocks.
Melissa Forziat: So i have never had a long john and I've never heard anybody say that a long john is their favorite donut.
April: What?
Melissa Forziat: Oddly enough. So I'm going to go with high rocks because that's the one I'm least familiar with on the list.
April: OK.
Melissa Forziat: And it just to like show my math of how I got there. And for all the higher-ops athletes, message me, inform me. i want to know.
Melissa Forziat: Like, what's going on with your sport?
Rich: okay
Melissa Forziat: Tell me.
April: Rich, I want to hear your answer.
Rich: It says ultra runner to me all day long, uh, long, the long John, and, and you know what?
April: yes. yes
Rich: I actually think that might be actually a pretty good, you know, at the 50 mile point, you know, turnaround at, uh, at, uh, Leadville 100. I, I could slam a long John.
April: Yeah.
Rich: I bet.
April: Yeah. I definitely think this is the, uh, the ultra runner. Have you seen a long John Melissa?
Melissa Forziat: i've seen it. Yeah.
April: Okay. All right. And it is, it is, i mean, they're usually just a dough, a sugar donut, but they're like this long. And I can just imagine because of that length of, of endurance, this would fit that person to a T.
Melissa Forziat: Perfect.
April: And I think high rocks is going to come up here again. You'll see. Donut number three, the sprinkle donut.
Melissa Forziat: Well, I mean, is it too on the nose to say gravel cyclist?
April: No, that's same wavelength.
Rich: Very intuitive.
April: Yes.
Rich: but The sprinkle.
Melissa Forziat: Okay, we're in it. we're we're Somehow we had the same instinct on this question.
April: Yes.
April: Oh yes.
Melissa Forziat: This
April: This is my favorite donut. This is what I go for. Yes.
Rich: Okay.
Melissa Forziat: is what you go for.
April: Yep.
Melissa Forziat: Do you have like a favorite color of icing on the top?
April: Yeah.
April: Oh yeah. Chocolate.
Melissa Forziat: That's what yeah, okay.
April: Yeah. Chocolate with this, with the lovely confetti looking sprinkles. Oh yeah.
Melissa Forziat: perfect.
April: So good. All right, here we go. we got two more, the apple fritter.
Rich: Mm-mm.
Melissa Forziat: Apple fritter. I think I would say
Melissa Forziat: maybe triathlete for this one.
Melissa Forziat: So here's what's interesting about the apple fritter. When i wasn't trying to do a sociological experiment when I started asking people what their favorite donut was in my interviews, but it's become that anyway.
Melissa Forziat: And one of the most popular answers is apple fritter.
April: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: But the way that answer usually goes down is, okay, this is a little out there. It's a little offbeat, but apple fritter.
April: We're here for it.
Melissa Forziat: And as soon as somebody says, okay, this is maybe a little bit off out of the box. I know they're going to say apple fritter. It's the answer that's most commonly felt to be uncommon.
Melissa Forziat: And I think, It's so interesting because like I've had a lot of opportunity to talk with triathletes through the journey to LA and it feels like there are a lot of them to talk to.
Melissa Forziat: And what they're doing is special. And it's also like there are a lot of people in the community. So it's like, I don't know, for me, it feels like an interesting matchup.
April: I love it. I'm here for the fruits.
Rich: I was there. Apple fritter is my favorite. I am a self-identified triathlete. Let's go apple fritter triathlete all the way.
April: Oh,
Melissa Forziat: This worked.
Rich: two
April: Oh my gosh. You need to write a book about this.
Melissa Forziat: The logic somehow worked.
April: Melissa, you need to write a book. I think that there's some psychology here for sure.
Melissa Forziat: but
April: All right. Our last donut donut. Number five, the cronut.
Melissa Forziat: Well, you felt like Hirox was coming back. So is that your instinct?
April: That's my instinct. Yes. Yes.
Melissa Forziat: I'm gonna go with that.
April: yeah Yeah. It's got a lot going on, which is a, is high rocks.
Melissa Forziat: Talk about a tasty donut.
April: 100%.
Melissa Forziat: Yeah.
April: Yeah. got layers.
Melissa Forziat: Talk about, it talk about density too. I mean, like, my goodness, that's the donut for us.
April: Yes.
Rich: Yeah. o
April: We call that the striations. but
Melissa Forziat: I challenge anybody listening to this to not be hungry right now. but
April: Yeah.
Rich: Right?
April: Oh my gosh. We should have got some damn donuts for this interview too.
Melissa Forziat: is that That was such a missed opportunity.
April: Oh man.
Rich: whoa Wait till you see the thumbnail art you know that we're going to push out.
April: I can't wait.
Rich: Right? Yeah. yeah
Melissa Forziat: Gasp. I can't wait. ha
April: Melissa, I would be, i would be remiss. I'm sure you've been asked this before, but what is your favorite donut?
April: Yeah.
Melissa Forziat: Basically as much chocolate as you can get.
April: Mm.
April: Mm.
Melissa Forziat: And when I was younger, i have this, this memory from when I was younger of eating chocolate cream filled donuts with my dad and the chocolate cream filled from Dunkin.
April: Mm.
Melissa Forziat: was Dunkin Donuts at the time. Like I, there's just a special place in my heart for chocolate cream filled. And now that I'm older where I live, I live near a place called moon donut and Torrance, California. And they have this, like, it's a yeast donut, not a cake donut, but it has like a chocolate glaze on the top filled, like filled with chocolate frosting, including in the center and then piled high over the top. And then there's like a little Hershey's rectangle at the top, like, because they just thought need just a little bit more. so that's
Melissa Forziat: so that's me
April: That's in a nutshell right there. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. That's so good.
Melissa Forziat: yeah, that's the move. But we've we've got the whole spectrum here. We've got me with all the chocolate. We've got Rich with the apple fritter and we've got you, April, with the this the chocolate glaze with sprinkles.
April: Yeah, just funfetti all over. So much. This is so much fun. i really appreciate you being a good sport here, Melissa, with our donut theme and and everything that you brought to our interview today. But let's wrap up this segment.
April: Listeners, your assignment this week is to pick your donut, match it with your sport, You can post it to our Instagram, Facebook. We want you to tag us at G2G endurance, and we will read the best ones on next week's show. So if you're one of those people who says, yeah, I don't really like donuts. Well, we hear you. We respect you, but yeah, we will not be taking your calls. So go out there, train hard, eat well. And remember every long run is just a great donut waiting to happen.
Rich: I love that, man. You know, all of this, you know, all of this talk about sugar and donuts.
Melissa Forziat: So good.
Rich: I feel like this is the perfect setup for this ad read and this shout out to Vespa Power Endurance, which is going to help you tap into clean, steady energy so that you can stay strong, focused and in the zone longer.
April: It was so bad.
Rich: And Vespa is not fuel. Donuts are fuel. Vespa, however, is a metabolic catalyst that'll take all of that sugar that you've eaten and it will turn you into a fat burning machine. so if you want to use fat as your fuel source instead of sugar, you want to use Vespa Endurance. Endurance Less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery.
Rich: the link for The link to purchase and get 15% off of any order is here in the show notes. Or use the code G2GVespa15 at checkout and and you will feel free.
Rich: everything that Vespa brings, which is amazing. And if you haven't noticed, a lot of our athletes are are getting new PRs on Vespa. Folks, and Melissa, thank you for being with us. This has been an absolute blast. You have an open invitation to come back anytime and share the latest chase the donut or grab take the donut story.
Rich: And folks, thanks for spending time with us today and Melissa on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please follow us and leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
April: Thank you.
Rich: It helps us reach more athletes like you. stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will see you next week.
