Before I moved to the west coast, I'd try to avoid them as much as possible because there isn't any really good strategy to deal with them, esp in hot humid weather where bug sprays will just sweat off. This meant a lot of otherwise good trails were inaccessible for 4-5 month a year. I did a lot of residential running and a lot of short multilap out and backs on a beach as they seem to mostly just stick to the woods.
Kvothe wrote:
Before I moved to the west coast, I'd try to avoid them as much as possible because there isn't any really good strategy to deal with them, esp in hot humid weather where bug sprays will just sweat off. This meant a lot of otherwise good trails were inaccessible for 4-5 month a year. I did a lot of residential running and a lot of short multilap out and backs on a beach as they seem to mostly just stick to the woods.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to run in years, but thinking back my recollection was that the deer flies liked it more in the sun-baked open and mostly dissipated once in the woods.
To the guy who runs 7:30 pace, I am trying to think back. I typically ran 6:30 pace or slightly faster, and I think I would try to speed up and get out of their range if alone. It at least would usually cause them to have to calculate enough that (back in my 20s on runs I knew well) I could turn around and see them (relative to me) hovering/trying to land and then I would smack them soundly with the palm of my hand. Little more satisfying! Of course if running with someone else the other person would do the honors.
One memory I have is of running on a mowed path through a field in the heat. I scared up a deer, and dozens of deer flies started buzzing everywhere as they had apparently been on the poor deer biting it. I have little love for those annoying insects.