Lorraine Grix

Lorraine Grix, 56, swims for Michigan Masters. She grew up in the Detroit area and still lives there today. Never having had access to a pool or a lake while she was growing up, Lorraine didn’t learn how to swim until she attended college in her late 20s. She’s always kept in shape; she grew up on a farm and did a lot of chores. She’s seen firsthand how exercise keeps people young, and she did casual swimming, biking, and running after college.

Lorraine’s daughter, who is also her running and biking partner, took up triathlons a couple of years ago. Being comfortable in a pool but not in open water, Lorraine got swim lessons from a coach for her birthday and is steadily relearning how to swim. During practice, she thinks about everything she does so she can hone her skills. She knows it is a work in progress, and is happy to be improving.

This past year, Lorraine competed in her first triathlon, a sprint distance. Her goal was only to finish, but she wasn’t even the last one out of the water. In addition to her triathlon, she participated in her first swim meet at the Michigan State Masters meet. She had a lot of fun and is looking forward to swimming in more meets in 2013.

Lorraine typically swims three to four times weekly for 1000-5000 yards per session. The majority is freestyle, with some stroke work and sculling. She typically swims on her own, but wants to start working out more with the team. Her goals for the year are to learn breaststroke and flip turns. She also wants to improve her open water skills.

She likes the Go the Distance program because it is an easy way to track her mileage. She also uses the FLOG to keep track of everything else, and likes the reporting capabilities of the program. Like most people, she has more motivation when working toward a goal. Her goal for 2013 is to swim 251 miles.