For syncing, I would think that as long as you use the SS to clear things & only clock on SCK after SS goes valid, it would go pretty smooth.
Unless you get a clock glitch somewhere, then garbage after that for sure.
Adding a data compare to capture after a specific value could be handy, or maybe a double like that (for say a 16 bit address). Or something external to allow trigging to start, like your Pulse code.