But my favorite to date is a simple, local video shot last week by Alex Clarke of Raleigh’s Enloe High School. It’s titled, “A Day in the Life of XC,” and it chronicles a typical training run by members of the school’s cross-country team.

I know it’s a typical run because my stepson is on the team and I frequently press him for details of the day’s run, especially those at Umstead State Park. They never do the same run twice. Some runs include a dip along the way in a Piedmont creek. Some are on trail I didn’t know existed, that they didn’t know existed until it crossed their path. Some include encounters with quicksand. Some runs are  five miles, some turn out to be 13 or more. Ben sleeps especially well after an Umstead workout, though they are workouts in name only. That’s what I love about Alex’s video.

Alex and four teammates dance across logs, they leap across creeks, they tightwalk across the lip of a long-abandoned dam. They play under blue skies, shirts off, in the dead of winter. They find a rope swing along the way. They take a shortcut down a tree trunk. They have a blast. They advocate an inspired approach to working out.

Tag along with Alex and the boys and see if  they don’t make you want to dance across a log as well.

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It’s not your stuffed-up imagination; the spring allergy season really is off to early start this year (and, thanks to climate change, may be trending in this direction). You can read all about it in today’s Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, in a story I contributed to.

That story is about spring allergies in general. But what about their effect on the more active among us? How does a body already taxed by exertion deal with the added stress of allergens? And what can you do about it?

“Obviously, you’re in a position to be more exposed and exacerbate the problem with exercising,” says Dr. John Sundy with Duke Medicine’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care. “You’re breathing more times per minute.”

If you have known allergies, come into the season prepared. “The more tools you have in the chest, the more likely you are to have success,” says Sundy.

If you use a steroid nasal spray, for instance, Sundy says to start using it in anticipation of a pollen outbreak. “You need to use it on a daily basis for several days,” he says. “Don’t wait for the peak to treat a flare-up of symptoms.”

Antihistamines are a little more forgiving. “They’re effective when they’re on board,” says Sundy, meaning you can use them more immediately before an outdoor workout.

You might be able to help yourself by working out later in the day. “Pollen counts are highest in early morning and settle as day goes on,” says Sundy. Mid-afternoon on is best.

And try to avoid working out on dry, windy days, he adds, when pollen on the ground tends to get kicked up.

That advice may help, says Sundy. But it’s not a given. “There’s still going to be pollen out there.”

Ditto shifting your workout indoors. You’ll likely reduce your exposure, especially in an air conditioned, tightly sealed gym. But the little pollen particles can still worm their way in.

A mask? Not so practical with the labored breathing associated with exercise, says Sundy. Besides, there’s that third key orifice of allergen entry, the eyes. (Goggles?)

It can also be helpful to know what you’re allergic to. If you’re allergic to tree pollen, spring will be your worst time. Grass pollen tends to be released in summer, while weeds let loose in the fall.

While wives’ tales abound about the effect of diet on allergies, Sundy says there’s no evidence proving that specific foodstuffs hinder or help allergic reactions to pollen.

Ratcheting down your training during peak pollen periods can also help. According to WebMD, “The more stressful the exercise, the faster you breathe; the faster you breathe, the more allergens and irritants you inhale.” Could be a good time to concentrate on stretching exercises, yoga or weight training.

By the way, adds Sundy, what goes for adults when it comes to allergies applies to kids as well. Teen allergy sufferers, he notes, may need prompting to remind them to take their medications.

Presumably you do this anyway, but don’t dally after a workout: shower immediately. And toss your pollen-coated workout gear into the wash.

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Additional thoughts

WebMD.com offers more tips with “Allergy Tips: Your Outdoor Exercise Checklist.”

You say allergies couldn’t be worse than where you live? If you live in Knoxville, Tenn., you’re right. Here’s the 2010 ranking of the worst places to have a spring allergy, based on a 2010 survey by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America:

1. Knoxville, Tenn.
2. Louisville, Ky.
3. Chattanooga, Tenn.
4. Dayton, Ohio
5. Charlotte, N.C.
6. Philadelphia, Pa.
7. Greensboro, N.C.
8. Jackson, Miss.
9. St. Louis
10. Wichita, Kan.
12. Columbia, S.C.
28. Greenville, S.C.
39. Virginia Beach, Va.
51. Charleston, S.C.
71. Raleigh, N.C.

100. Harrisburg, Pa.

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I can’t remember where we were — the middle of Nebraska? the middle of Missouri? — but it was time to visit another rest stop. We’d been driving for a day and a half, a day and a half and twelve hundred miles of sitting with virtually no exercise. My body was starting to petrify, my mood was increasingly surly. Marcy hopped out, opened the rear hatch of the M5, rooted around for a moment, then emerged with the antidote.

A hula hoop.

Exercising on a road trip is an oft-discussed, little-acted-upon phenomenon. LizzyGMobile makes underappreciated videos (6 views as of yesterday) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R61g57MfgYw on the subject, and truckers’ forums touch on the topic from time to time. http://www.truckersforum.net/forum/f18/get-out-exercise-rest-stops-5506/ Yet a GetGoingNC/Google investigation revealed that no states appear to incorporate exercise into their rest areas, despite offering everything from snack bars to wifi, according to the Interstate Rest Area Guide. http://www.roundaboutpublications.com/ebooks/index.php?recid=1&maincat_id=1&page=1

Thus, it’s up to you to make your own RAW — rest area workout.

The trick is to get some movement going, to get the blood flowing, the muscles engaged, the back realigned — without conjuring a sweat that will stick with you to Topeka. That’s one reason we like hooping. A recent study by the American Council on Exercise found: “Hooping is an excellent form of exercise that compares pretty favorably with most other group classes” — boot-camp, step aerobics, cardio kickboxing — “in terms of heart rate and calorie burn.” (Read the entire study here.) Plus, while your gyrations may warrant a curious glance or two, unlike with a bout of rest stop cardio-kickboxing, you likely won’t get a visit from the rest stop SWAT team.

An even greater plus: the rhythmic nature of hula hooping is a great way to ease the stress of driving and dissipate a potential case of road rage. And there’s surprisingly little collateral sweat.

Hula hoop: Add it to your packing list this Labor Day weekend.

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“Music is like is a legal drug for athletes,” says Costas Karageorghis with from London’s Brunel University School of Sport and Education, who has studied the buff/beat relationship for 20 years. “It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15 percent.” Music, Karageorghis has found, tends to distract us and arouse us; it triggers an ingrained instinct that subconsciously drives our bodies to keep pace with the beat. The studies studied involved runners, walkers and cyclists. The studies took different approaches and evaluated on various criteria. But they all showed that a peppier beat leads to a more aggressive, faster workout.

The caveat: You need to pay close attention to the music’s beat. I’m reminded of those junior high dances where you’d ask a girl to dance to a “safe” — meaning fast — beat, only to have the band seamlessly segue into a slow number. Thus, you don’t want want to put your iPod on Shuffle and have your run ricochet from Metallica to Manilow. Or maybe you do, if it’s an interval workout you’re after. Getting the right beat to match your workout is why sites such as ClickMix exist, so you can download just the right bpm (beats per minute) soundtrack to power the workout you have on tap.

Another caveat, albeit more personal preference. I don’t run with music mainly because my run is when I take out the trash in my brain. After a mile or so, the flotsam and jetsam of work begins to drift away. By about mile three, my brain is free to go in whatever direction it chooses. That wouldn’t happen with ABBA rattling around in my head.

If you’re new to the notion of using music to give you an added advantage, the folks at ACE recommend that the beats-per-minute of your music equal the heart rate you hope to achieve during your workout. For instance, if you’ve got a moderate-paced run planned where you expect your heart rate to fluctuate from 145 to 150 beats per minute, ClickMix suggests a mix of, say, Steve Miller’s “Jungle Love” (145 BPM), Heatwave’s “Boogie Nights” (146 BPM), and perhaps some Blondie, “One Way Or Another” (150 bpm).

For more on the study, go here.

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