Mosquitos

During hour 3 of my long run on Saturday, our conversation evolved to mosquitos.  I commented on how the first mosquito of the season had penetrated my fortress and had kept me up at night with his annoying and incessant buzzing near the ear.  
Personally, my favorite idea was that they're truly not very intelligent war machines, because they seem to attack human defense radar systems (also know as our ear) first, and that's the last place they should go after.  
But it's quite amazing if you think about it - how something that tiny and finely built can have so much technology:   they can fly, they have a hollow needle with which they suck blood, etc.  That lead to Muzo and I discussing how they find their prey, how do they know where we are, how complex they are etc. 
Personally I guessed that they must smell us, and he leaned towards the idea that they can sense us via heat seeking technology.  The result of this fascinating topic under my weekly log.


On the running front, I continue to build up my fitness.  (not to be mistaken for what my friends are doing which is to add fitness)  My goal for this past week was 40-44 miles.  Here's how it turned out:

• Monday:  Roads - 8.5 miles at 7:54 pace.  With a bunch of friends.
• Tuesday:  Trail - 3 miles with Karma.  Legs were really tired so just took him out for some fun. 
• Wednesday: Road - 7.5 miles in the hilly Northwest hills with Cindy.  It was fun to run in a new neighborhood.
• Thursday: Rest day. 
• Friday: Trail - 6.5 miles.  Great running weather, and my weekly run with Cindy, as we bring along Karma and Domingo on an out and back from Barton Springs trail head. Multiple rabbit sighting kept Domingo and Karma chasing and sprinting all morning.
• Saturday: Trail - 15 miles for total trail time of 3hrs 15mins, and about 3 hours of actual run time. Picked up the pace for last hour, and ran as hard as I possibly could for last 20 minutes.  Felt great. 
• Sunday: Trail -5.5 miles with Karma.  Fun stuff, as weather continues to be cool in the morning. 

Total 46 miles.
Will be out of town this coming Saturday and Sunday so unsure how many miles I'll be able to log.  With consecutive saturday long runs of 14, 13, 16, 18.5 and 15, it's therefore a welcome recovery week, to be careful with my comeback.  (The following week will be even lower due to work getting in the way on Tuesday and Wednesday. Such is life) 

It turns out that mosquitos are even more complex than both Muzo and I ever imagined, and we were both right: 

• Chemical sensors - mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to 100 feet (36 meters) away. Mammals and birds gives off these gases as part of their normal breathing. Certain chemicals in sweat also seem to attract mosquitoes (people who don't sweat much
don't get nearly as many mosquito bites).

• Visual sensors - if you are wearing clothing that contrasts with the background, and especially if you move while wearing that clothing, mosquitoes can see you and zero in on you. It's a good bet that anything moving is "alive", and therefore full of blood, so this is a good strategy.

• Heat sensors - Mosquitoes can detect heat, so they can find warm-blooded mammals and birds very easily once they get close enough.

Something with this many sensors sounds more like a military aircraft than an insect. That's why mosquitoes are so good at finding and biting you.   
(thanks to Muzo for finding this link to the data above )


What interesting things do you talk about on your runs?