One Month Down: Taking stock in the Sinai by Greg Loomis

One Month Down: Taking stock in the Sinai

By Greg Loomis

Well 30 days has now passed since I arrived in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt to serve out my one year tour as the Multinational Force and Observers physical therapist. On a day-to-day basis things seem to be taking forever and the thought of being away from my wife, the U.S., trail running, and all things green is overwhelming. But, here I am 30 days into my deployment already. Like any good scientist, I enjoy stepping back from the experiment occasionally to analyze what exactly is going on. So with out further delay let’s take a look.

The accomplishments:

Learning to deal without restaurants, a grocery store, a kitchen, and eat from a multinational flare dining facility…Not to mention the 18days for intestine adjustment!
Acclimating to the flat, sandy, desert with intense sun and temps in the 120’s by running at dusk and dawn when it is in the 80’s. I seemingly have accomplished this now as my sweat does not taste salty and flows much quicker into my run.
Emotional health -- I spend a great deal of time online e-mailing having reached out to many friends going back to my high school and college years. I have fallen out of touch with many due to life’s busy pace in the states getting in the way of relationships. I also spend 45-90 minutes in the dinning hall talking to my fellow soldiers each meal. It is nice not to feel rushed for once!

Cultural shocks:

Seeing Egyptian men in dresses, and FIJI men in skirts, and the French in shorts that make 1980’s NBA shorts seem long.
Learning more and more about 3,000 years of fighting in the region and religious beliefs.
Getting used to the sound of bombs rumbling my windows, and used to wearing a flack vest, Kevlar helmet, and carrying a loaded weapon when I leave the base!
Appreciating that even though I am locked down on a 1 x 1 mile base, at least it is not a 50ft by 150ft tiny observation post at a remote border fence-line like the FIJI and Columbian soldiers man….and don’t get to leave for three months!!!!
A new appreciation for water: Man, the look of land with no rain is awful to my eyes, and I miss the green so much.
Animals: Getting used to rabbits who look like and run like deer (no hopping), false horned viper snakes, sand colored owls and crows, and ants marching on “ant highways” like they are in a very big hurry, and most amazingly Hedge hogs!
Not having TV or radio … but access to the internet and a great library.
Interacting with people from many nations…and treating patients with a different language (and pulling out my high school Spanish)
But, most amazing thing seen … the way in which the nomadic Bedouin people live here in the desert, herding goats, sleeping on the ground, no electric, no water, and in homes made out of sticks and shrubs wrapped together to keep down the blowing sand, with most having no roof. Amazing!

The Continued AGENDA:
I promised myself, and my wife, I would get my body back after a few years of poor diet, decreased activity, and aging influenced metabolic slowing:

Weight lost to date- 6 lbs … via dietary changes and aims- one piece (at least) of fruit with every meal, soda intake limited to one diet per day, increased bread, decreased cheese, veggie intake with every lunch and dinner meal, increased fluid intake with meals (to decrease portion size eaten per sitting), absolute zero dessert intake.
Activity increase- walk everywhere on base- at least 1-2 miles daily, also jump started my metabolism by doing double workouts every other day and running every single day, staying fresh and injury free by doing short, but frequent runs (ave- 4 miles), and finally putting back in all those little extras that make one very fit: Stretching everyday, Pilates & abdominal work, push ups, pull ups, and trying to do Yoga 3+ days per week.
Running specific: I covered 186 miles around the 1 x 1 mile square base in the last 30 days with 38 runs, 5 up tempo walks with 25 lbs weighted vest, 14 double workout days and 30 for 30 days thus far in my effort to run/walk everyday I am deployed.
It is my intent to regain the speed I had 5 years ago … hopefully accomplished by doing all of the above lifestyle modifications, and:
Re-training my ultrarunner mind to do steady runs with out stopping to walk, at a pace that is more taxing than I can do with a HR of 110 b/min like I used to do and more like the 145-160b/min I average now.
Getting used to the frequency of running again as I have averaged 4-5 days per week of running the last four years.
Get some leg turnover again by doing striders and 80% short sprints two days a week along with one steady tempo run.
Started and will continue to gradually get back into doing a steady paced long run with my first and only one this month being 17 miles at 8:00 pace.
Gradually building my mileage with the first weeks being pretty low (35, 41, 41, 51) but hoping to continue to inch up

Thirty days down! Many yet to come!