Fitness Vs. Health: How To Customize Your Training

Health, fitness, and performance are often seen as interchangeable metrics. After all, having high levels of each is important when it comes to being able to train for—and achieve—your running goals .

But what do these terms really mean and how are they all related to one another when it comes to putting one foot in front of the other? We asked two exercise physiologists to break it all down.

"Fitness, in the big picture, is the ability to perform activities with optimum strength and endurance," Hamilton says. "It's a broad definition for a reason—because each individual's needs may be different."

With that being said, there are a few variables that can determine physical fitness in relation to running, according to Horan. "While aerobic capacity is an important factor that provides information regarding physical fitness, it's important to consider other variables such as anaerobic threshold, running economy , and velocity at VO2 max ," she says.

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