SAC Race : Keys to Success

So it's almost race day and Go Banana's goal for this race is to not repeat some of our old mistakes while at the same time continuing to do the things we've learned to do right. We've never had a clean race without some little f*%$ up. So before this race while enjoying one of Go Bananas training breakfasts we wrote down some of the these little lessons.

Don't Get Wet - It sucks, shivering wastes energy, and it's incredible how much slower you move after you are wet. We learned this last fall in this same 12 hour race after being told in race brief the organizers did the entire course with dry sneakers, however we on the other hand were up to our ears in the middle of a lake within an hour from the start. However, if you must do a small lake crossing it's a good idea to carry a garbage bag to throw your shoes and such in to.

Dry Clothes - Keep dry clothes in all your transition bags and if you think it might be a wet trek keep an extra shirt in a zip lock bag in your camel pack. This can help change your mood on a long wet trek in the dense forest. Also this is especially important with regards to socks, put an extra pair of socks or two in each transition bag.

Portages - When you hit a portage that is longer then a few meters flip the boat and put it over your heads, one in the front and one in the back. Sounds simple but for some reason our first race with long portages we carried the canoe right side up which is a lot slower and slowly yanks your arm out of it's socket.

Double Check Plots - Simple and will save you big. I wasn't part of this race but Thomas and Brian misplotted a checkpoint in one race.

Don't Blow Your Load - It's a long race and you aren't going to win it in the first hour but you can lose it when you bonk in the 5th hour. Try and not get caught up in the start when everybody is excited and full of energy. Run your own race at your own pace.

Trust Your Compass - Everyone tells you this and it sounds soooo simple but it's not easy to head back to hiking through thick brush when there is a path weaving in a direction sort of close to your heading. If you travel back in our blog history and look at the Esprit AR you'll see talk of a 5KM run to correct an issue caused by following a very nice ATV trail.

Know Distances and Average Speeds - Figure out your average speeds in different situations - light jog, hiking in thick brush, biking slow singletrack, biking on gravel roads, paddling across a lake no current, and so on. Next figure out the distances not only between checkpoints but also between any easily identifiable landmark such as a road, corner, or lake. Now use the combination of this information and a stop watch as a gauge of if you've gone too far or our usual problem...not far enough.

If we can do all this right hopefully we'll have a good race on Saturday.

* However it's impossible for us to lose since if we finish before PFO we will have defeated our mortal enemy, and if they finish before us they said they'll have cold beer waiting for us. So it's win win for Go Banana!