If you live in a part of Australia that gets especially humid during the summer months, such as Brisbane, it can make your running regime all the more difficult. When you run in humid weather, it is more difficult for your sweat to evaporate, and this means that your body doesn't cool down as much as it would in dry weather. In hot and humid weather, you can easily overheat and exhaust yourself, so it's important to have some kind of plan about the way you run in this kind of climate. Here are a few tips.

Choose your sportswear carefully. Although you may be attracted to the soft feel of natural fibres, they generally aren't the best thing for exercising in hot weather. The problem with cotton is that it will hold or absorb  sweat and thus hold in your body heat that you want to get rid of. For humid weather, you should choose fabrics that are moisture wicking. Lycra, nylon, and polyester are all good choices. And if you really want to go natural, you should be able to find some running gear made from bamboo, which also has fantastic wicking properties and will keep you cool in the summer. For more information, contact your local sportswear shop.

Be sure to hydrate. Whenever you are exercising, keeping yourself hydrated is really important, but even more so when you are at a greater risk of overheating. Many runners make the mistake of guzzling down water after a run, but what you actually need to do is chug down a bottle of water before you actually start running to keep you hydrated throughout. If you are running for 45 minutes or less, you probably won't need to take a bottle of water with you, but any longer than that and you'll also need a sports drink with electrolytes so that your body can absorb water as successfully as possible.

Be okay with going slow. There are certain times when you can really push yourself and try and run your fastest kilometre, but the humid summer isn't that time. This is the time to simply keep up with a running practice and a fitness level. After a summer of slower runs, you'll be ready to smash those records in the autumn time. If you overdo it in the summer, however, you could become fatigued, and that will only create setbacks for your long term running goals.