MEMBER INTERVIEW - CAROLINE BURCKLE

Member interview

Allegiate member Caroline Burckle is an entrepreneur, mentor and olympian. Find out what Allegiate means to her, her thoughts on the training program, growing as a person and the importance of challenging yourself in different environments.

The video below is a condensed version of the full interview. For the full interview, read the transcription below. 

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Tell us your name and a little bit about yourself

Caroline Burckle. Former swimmer, olympian, and now sports psychology mentor for athletes.

Right on. What’s your fitness background?

Swimming has always been my fitness background. In college and for the olympics, we lifted, olympic lifting, as well as a lot of running and a lot of cycling. So almost doing a triathlon to train for swimming, but it’s very dynamic training and a lot of different movements in order to transfer the land to the water, so that’s definitely what I’ve been doing my whole life. Nothing was ever too heavy, so not a lot of heavy training, no heavy weight training, tons of impact or anything but just things that would translate from the land to the water.

Always swimming? Or were there other sports?

Oh yeah. My mom is a professional tennis player so we grew up playing tennis and running cross country. So those were great conditioning outlets for us out of the water.  I ran a lot as a young, wee tot. In my younger years, I ran a lot.

What does the Allegiate training program mean to you?

It’s interesting because I come from a background where everything is very structured and you show up here, at this time, do this, here’s your workout, here are your meals, here’s everything – laid out right in front of you. And when I retired professional swimming, I felt like I was, you know, obviously excited to do everything on my own and start fresh and let my body chill for a while, but then I just went and did everything. And it was exhausting and burnt me out.

“It gives you a purpose. It gives you a structure so you know what you’re getting and how you’re gonna be progressing in the cycle of the weeks that month. I really appreciate that...”

The reason why I love Allegiate so much is because it’s a community, first of all, so you find your team again and second of all, it gives you a purpose. It gives you a structure so you know what you’re getting and how you’re gonna be progressing in the cycle of the weeks that month. I really appreciate that versus just kinda going and bouncing around to different stuff and just trying different stuff. While that’s fun, there’s really no sense of fulfillment in seeing my own journey and my own progress in something. That has been transferring to other parts of my life as well.

Community is a word that gets thrown around and overused a lot, everyone seems to say they have a community. But I think we've built an authentic one. In your words, what makes the Allegiate community and what’s it like training in that environment?

It’s a personal accountability. It’s a place where you share personal accountability and every human wants to share that with somebody else. I think it's about building relationships with one another and feeling accountable to the coaches and the coaches accountable to you and your teammates in the workout.

I feel like there’s nothing better than to show up and know that everyone is on their own personal journey towards the same end goal that month and that cycle. Yeah, community does get thrown around a lot and it can be exhausting trying to figure out what’s a community and what’s not. I think it’s your own personal interpretation as well. If you can find meaning in those relationships and feel like you’re valued, then you’re showing up to the right place.

Personally, I appreciate coming in and knowing that everybody here is supporting me along my journey and has taken the time to get to know me as an athlete first before I just jump into a workout and just try a bunch of different stuff. They’re learning your journey and then holding you accountable along the way which is really cool, it’s personalized.  

You talked about Allegiate being more of a community from the get-go. Is that coming from you? Where does that come from?

I honestly felt like it came from you guys. It came from the staff, it came from the people that were here already that were just going and trying something. Bringing this to this area – that hasn’t been touched yet, like this approach to training is untouched.  

Knowing that you’re part of something unique gives you a sense of identity. And I know for me, that’s a big thing coming from the identity of being a swimmer and that’s all you are: you’re this olympic swimmer and you don’t really have anything else that you can take and run with when you’re finished and when you continue.

So coming into a place that gives you a sense of purpose and that feeling of belonging is exactly what we all look for anyway in life – finding those places where you belong instead of just knowing that you’re going in order to just have the most aggressive workout that day and then leave.

So I think it’s just building that slowly. That sense of belonging is where I find that crystallization of it all.

“If you’re not spending every day knowing that you’re getting that 1% better in yourself or in your career, or in your family, or in your workouts and your fitness, than what are you actually doing? You’re bouncing around.”

We've heard you talk about 'exercise vs. training' before. Can you explain what you mean by that?

If you’re not spending every day knowing that you’re getting that 1% better in yourself or in your career, or in your family, or in your workouts and your fitness, than what are you actually doing? You’re bouncing around.

And so just seeing that as like, "this is training" and it’s going to be your own form of training. If people say, “What am I training for?” well that’s up to you. We can’t figure that out for you, and if there’s a specific goal you are training for, more power to you.

But I’m super passionate about the whole exercise vs. training thing because there’s a time for exercise and there’s a time to really train yourself and your body and your mind, not just in here but take it out there into the world.

“There’s a time for exercise and there’s a time to really train yourself and your body and your mind, not just in here but take it out there into the world.”

This has been awesome. You have a great perspective on the process and a mentality we hoped would come from our members. Are they any last points you'd like to bring up? 

I’m just so grateful. And I think that I’ve personally, I don’t want this to sound weird or anything, but I’ve been to a lot of places and a lot of experiences and different styles of training and different feelings of accountability and support and this is hands down the best that I’ve had since I left the sport. And sometimes even during it as well.

If you feel nervous about starting something or intimidated, that’s good. If you feel totally comfortable just flying in everywhere you go in life, that’s actually not stretching yourself.

Giving something a chance is the best thing you can possibly do to give yourself a chance.

“This is hands down the best that I’ve had since I left the sport. And sometimes even during it as well.”