Preparing for the 2013 SAC - What worked in 2012

[SRSDriver]

We raced the 2012 SAC, and finished all CP's including CP9. After the race the CD guys video'ed us here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawJlQ2BzGM

In preparing during 2012, we did some rucking, lots of general PT, but both had an endurance background. I've had PM's asking for advice, so rather than answer them individually, I'll summarize my answers here. If you have other questions, ask.

Questions I've answered in PM's from 2012:
-What Pack did you use: Kifaru KU. It might have been too light, I think 24 hours in, the lightness of the KU probably influenced my subconscious decision to skip an attempt at the field crawl, and cost us a critical 25 points. I regularly roll around rocks and parking lots with my kifaru zulu and never worry about it, so it's an area where I will probably go heavier this year, as the terrain appears even rougher.

-How did you carry your rifle: I carried a suppressed SRS in a last minute 'scabbard' holder - The holder It worked OK, but not that well. This year I have a custom molle mount from tactical textile that will clip the rifle to molle, and keep it out of the way but offer quick disconnect with mollestix. I'm testing this now. My teammate used an elberlestock pack, which makes the rifle carry nice, but you can't sit down with the pack on your back.

-What other hints - Have your food and water dialed well before hand. Take care of your teammate, and resist 'pushing' through blisters or nutrition/hydration/personal problems. If you keep pushing, instead of fixing it, you'll jack up the rest of your race, when a 10 minute stop to fix a hotspot becomes 10 separate 30 minute stops to rest a bleeding staph infected missing heel. Manage your pace carefully, it's easy to speed up later, it's hard to continue if you blow up in the first hour. Make sure you know how to read a map, and practice your land nav. Making those hits count is important, we needed 18 points if I recall to move up a place, but didn't shoot some stages well.

Having done 24 hour to multi day races all over, I think the SAC is a pretty unique event - If you put your mind to it, you can compete in the SAC, and you don't have to train 18 hours a day to do it.


ETA:
Last year we did a GoRuck challenge, and this year, there is a great event with room still open that makes for a great trainup - I can't make this do to a family committment, but complete this and you'll be ready:

http://www.meetup.com/the-Suck/

 

[Mendocino]

Nice effort Murph; who says altruism is not alive and well in the extreme competitive shooting sports? ;-)

 

[SRSDriver]

Nice effort Murph; who says altruism is not alive and well in the extreme competitive shooting sports? ;-)

Nah, I won't deny hoping for a thread! That said, perhaps some folks can learn from my mistakes over the years.

-Don't ever change your food plan without weeks of testing before hand. If you plan on eating grilled cheese sandwiches, smash it with a rock, leave it out on your deck for a day, then check and see if you'd eat it. Then eat it during your next workout, and note the response of your body... A buddy's wife used to get grossed out by the various concoctions left on the deck in the name of testing, but 40 or 50 hours into hell, he knew that that particular food will still sit with him.

-Don't take changes to gear lightly - Re-arranging stuff last minute is sometimes unavoidable, but a subtle shift on that waist belt adjustment that isn't a problem on a 2 hour hike with the kids can make a giant hole in your back after 10 hours.

-All that emergency crap in your pack doesn't just have to be for an emergency. Space blankets work wonders, and laying down for 15 minutes if someone is crashed out (nutrition problem, hydration, over exertion) can completely turn someone around. Wrap up in that foil wonder, lay down with the watch alarm pinned to your ear using your hat. Sleep for 15 minutes, re-evaluate, and if possible, get moving, but sometimes a power nap really can fix stuff. I've had teammates lay down in the middle of a country road at dawn after a hard night of navigation, wake up, and magically navigate like a cruise missile for the next 40 hours.

-Can't say enough about footcare, except that everyone's feet seem to be different. I'd never had a blister in years, but ended up with one in the SAC, as my footwear hit it's endurance limit and the heel started flexing oddly. Had I paid better attention to the condition of the footwear, I'd have avoided that problem - I knew the limit was coming, but had hoped to avoid trying to break in new footwear in 2 weeks before the event.

-Electrolytes - Have a plan, and test it. I use the hammer endurolytes, which I've been told by a triathlon coach friend are crap. But that crap works for me, and has taken me through a lot of heat without failure, so I'll stick with them.

For a lot of guys, this is second nature.... But some of us learned some lessons the hard way.