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Dr. Marie Whitt / Strength Coach and Physical Therapist for Runners

Hey runner, I'm Marie, @drwhittfit. Never feel like all your hard work was all for nothing ever again. I coach strength training for runners, helping YOU identify your weaknesses and fix them with strength exercises designed for runners to help you build the exact strength you need to run your best, strongest, fastest, most injury-resilient race yet. Subscribe and come join the Running Fit Fam!

Featured Post

It’s supposed to be hard (that’s the point)

If you’ve been hanging out with me on Instagram this week, you know I’m in Salt Lake City for our annual ski week ...which, yes, absolutely still relates to running. This is also my annual "get my butt handed to me by the mountain" week. Usually, I'm cool with this. Skiing is excellent cross training; a different, fun sport that gets me out of my comfort zone. So in preparation for this, I will literally train the entire year to not only become a better, stronger, (faster?) runner, but also...

Can I tell you a really dumb mistake I made that resulted in spicy-running feet? The worse part, I keep doing it. Almost every summer. We have home that was built in 2020. And it's relatively close to the house next to us. Between the two houses is this itty-bitty strip of grass that's on an audacious, DRAMATIC incline. So, not wanting to walk on the neighbors property, I end up walking practically perpendicular to the earth. And I wear the worse chunky, but comfy, slides known to man. And...

If this is you... You're not crazy It's entirely preventable. Yep. You read that correctly. You are NOT doomed to chronic Achilles flares every marathon training cycle regardless of how slowly you build up your mileage. You're also NOT sentenced to repeat next-morning soreness and stab-y-ness after speed or hills. BUT... the answer IS NOT "just do more calf raises". And look I get it. It can be really confusing. Because "But marie, you said don't do more calf raises. But your exercises are...

If your achilles and ankles could be made injury-proof by the sheer volume of calf raises you're doing... Then you'd have ankles of steel. But instead, I always find months of January - March to be repeat Achilles offenders. Mostly because we're ramping up and sprinkling back in speed, hills,...general intensity. But it comes with a cost. I've taken MULTIPLE different physical therapy ankle/achilles courses within the last year because I'm always amazed how much of the detailed nuance the...

This may be a crime... but I think I love New Year's even more than Christmas. Christmas is nostalgic and cozy, like your favorite running route that hits the right spot after a long work day. But New Year's is charged with a different kind of energy and potential, like a new, challenging, but stunning route you discover is only 5 minutes from your house. It just hits differently. So tell me, what are your 2026 running goals? What's on your calendar already and what do you have your eye on?...

I know we love the finish line photo. Medal Monday. Putting our race bib somewhere on display. And we should 1000% celebrate those moments, culminating all of our hard work. But winter running... running in the dark. alone. in the cold. makes our runs feel even more "solo". And harder. That's why on Christmas, I wanted to say, I see all your quiet wins of this year. And I'm so freaking proud of you. All the early mornings OR the after-work miles. The strength sessions when motivation wasn't...

I dont know if you’re seeing this all over your socials feed… But the running form police seem to be OUT IN FORCE. And I can’t avoid it. But most importantly, I can’t ignore it. It’s that BAD and WRONG. So yes, we’re dipping our toes into running form (again) but it’s because I’ve been hearing so much…RELIEF…from you all. I’ve seen recent comments on my Instagram videos thanking me for debunking the “perfect running form hype” ...because it would literally leave some runners SCARED to run. So...

"I'm so glad PT's don't like doing their exercises too..." This is how my husband roasts me whenever I occasionally grumble about needing to get back to my regularly-scheduled maintaince PT exercises. *yes, even PT's need PT exercises. Even some of my 1-on-1 runners at the moment have fallen off the exercise-band wagon...just a week. no biggie. Maybe you have, too. My point is: it's the end the year. The grand total of yearly mileage is wrapping up. The off season is in full swing. And...

I'm pretty sure I've had runners tell me they've even paid up to $500. I was shook. Running gait analysis can be...interesting. And I'm going to drop a major secret and out my own physical therapy profession. While every PT is taught how to do a gait assessment, it doesn't mean we're all good at it. I always assume that if a runner has paid the big bucks (especially that $500 range), then they've probably found someone very credible. However... I've also heard of runners walking away from...

I know it can feel like it. Because I've been there. And sometimes IT IS one workout, one hill sprint, one wrong step that sends you hurtling into a running injury. I'm 100% NOT denying that happens. But what I am saying is I've seen scuttlebutt floating around on the internet insisting that "ONE WORKOUT can ruin you're entire training cycle!" Drama queens, take a seat. Technically, this is just a resurgence from a controversial research article that was published this summer. (You can check...