An ISU student is training to join the 1,099 individuals who have successfully swam across the English Channel. 

Adam Grimm, senior in horticultural, said his love for swimming started as an infant. At 3 years old, Grimm was able to swim the full length of a pool. By 4, he began to swim competitively, which is something he continued to do for the next 13 years.

However, Grimm encountered difficulties with his swimming career as he entered his junior year of high school. He gave up his love of swimming due to the fear of what others would think of his sexual orientation. He said he found himself straying from his practices and making poor choices, unable to take anything seriously.

“By my junior year I was a heavy smoker; I smoked for 10 years,” Grimm said. “I had finally had enough of the swimming. I was just too worried about people finding out [I was gay], and I was more so on the verge of coming out and accepting my orientation.”

At the age of 19, Grimm said he finally accepted who he was and began to regret his choice of cutting his high school swimming career short due to fear of what others would think. He said he spent most of his early adult life dwelling on the regret of what could have been.

“At 27… I was treated really poorly by an individual of high authority, and it made me … think, ‘What am I doing with myself and my life and why am I not chasing the dreams and goals that I have?’” Grimm said.

Grimm was faced with the realization that he altered his life for those around him, rather than doing something to better himself. He decided it was time to reinvent himself.

He began to work out and return to his German studies but quickly realized he needed an outlet for his goals of maintaining a high GPA and swimming the English Channel, which led to his involvement in triathlons and enrollment at Iowa State in 2011.

In July 2012, Grimm began to book and train for the swim.

“As soon as everything was booked and official, I was able to start setting up the team with managers and coaches … [and] sponsors and places to swim,” Grimm said.

Grimm’s team is directly related to Iowa State. The team consists of two managers/coaches: Nick Howell, superintendent of ISU Horticultural Research Station, and Brandon Carpenter, graduate assistant at the research farms. The team is also assisted by Aaron Calhoun, an undergraduate student at Iowa State.

In order to prepare for the 21.7-mile swim, Grimm must find open water areas that are deep and cold enough to train in, which he said has been challenging.

“One solution I have come up with for my outdoor swimming is going to Big Creek in Polk County,” Grimm said. “Luckily Polk County has been very friendly and very willing to help me and work with me on my distance swimming out there.”

Grimm has to drive a half an hour to the designated swimming location on Big Creek. One of his trainers must accompany him during the swim.

“The English Channel is very cold and very deep, and he needs a wide open body of water that has wave action, is cold and convenient,” Howell said.

During the winter months when the water drops below 45 degrees, Grimm turns to Beyer Hall for his training. Because he is taking 17 credit hours, Grimm’s ability to train this semester is limited to an hour and a half.

As he is pressed for time, Grimm decided to focus on his technique as well as doing more sprint action than he normally does. Next semester, with only 14 credits, he said he will be able to have three- to five-hour swims.

Nutrition is another training factor that comes with the swim. During the 21.7 miles, which Grimm predicts will take him 12 to 15 hours to complete, he cannot have any contact with anything or anyone.

If he chooses to stop he must tread water, and if he touches the boat he will be disqualified. When Grimm decides to eat, the food will either have to be thrown to him or those on the vessel can use a pole to give Grimm his nutrients.

“I will take short stops usually every half an hour to take any kind of food … generally [it will be] liquid food,” Grimm said. “Aaron has to work on trying to find the right foods … and a way I can drink it very quickly.”

Swimming 21.7 miles comes with a list of risk factors, Grimm said. The biggest risk is hypothermia. The temperature of the water at the time of the swim will only be 60 F, which can feel quite different than the air temperature of 60 degrees.  Other factors include boat traffic, sea creatures and the mental challenge.

“That is why I am looking for a big open area to swim in around Ames because … I need to get to that psychological state where it becomes harder and harder and get tempted to call it because you are exhausted,” Grimm said.

Grimm said his motivation for doing the swim came from the frustration of not continuing to swim because of the fear of students, teachers and the community finding out about his sexual orientation

The regret of his choices in life fueled the morale to do the swim, Grimm said. He wants to be able to show students of all ages that they can have dreams and ideas no matter who they are.

“I just hope to be another person to show these LGBT athletes that you don’t need to give up what you want to do,” Grimm said.  “If [you] want to be a football player, tennis player, go do it. Don’t let the teammates discourage you from doing it.”

The cost of such an event is $10,000 to $12,000, so Grimm and his team are currently seeking out sponsorships so he can make the cost more manageable and find a wide variety of places to train.

Grimm will have a 10-day window to do the swim and is scheduled to swim the channel between July 20 and 30, 2015.