WELCOME TO S.S. ENDURANCE!
A coaching service for brave trail runners and triathletes of any ability.
Hi, I’m Serena! I am enthusiastic and curious about all things sports and also care a lot about accessibility, sustainability, and scientific validity. I personally race and also coach athletes racing for ultra trail and triathlon finishes (and podiums!). In addition, I publish a weekly newsletter and help create content for the Huzzah Hub. I am passionate about athlete-centered coaching and education for all endurance athletes.
I graduated from Harvard with a B.S. in Engineering Sciences (and a “minor” in Rowing) and received my M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco. During medical school, I also completed a M.Sc. in Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley studying biosensors. Most recently, I participated in the Fellowship in Rowing Coaching Leadership at Community Rowing, Inc. in Boston.
Aside from education and sports, some things I am grateful for include: The smell of redwoods after it rains. Two-thirds into a race distance. Family, especially our calico cat Ramona. Brownies. Methods sections of papers. The texture of focaccia dough. Muir and the Mountain route on Zwift. Natalie Coffin Greene Park in Ross, California. Post-race cookies. And all your support! Thank you!
MY MISSION
To improve access to coaching in endurance and ultra-endurance sports.
To work in partnership with athletes to help them get what they want to out of sport, such as enjoyment, camaraderie, challenge, competition, health, and/or other things.
To pursue excellence as a coach, athlete, and member of the community myself.
I offer virtual coaching for athletes preparing for races in trail and ultra running, triathlon, and other endurance sports.
The story behind the name
The team name, S.S. Endurance, was inspired by a few things. I wanted to incorporate something along the lines of “sweat and sweets,” but that wasn’t exactly a name (though I do like the tag line “powered by sweat and sweets”). The “S.S.” part of the name is derived from this. In addition, many boat names start with “S.S.,” and ships are really big floating freight trains that have tons of power and endurance, so I liked that. But I also wanted to make it clear this was an endurance sport team, so I landed on “S.S. Endurance.”
Turns out the Endurance was a real ship and has a real story. In 1915, Ernest Shackleton and his crew set out on the Endurance with the goal to be the first to reach the South Pole. This ship was a huge wooden hull designed to break through ice on the way to landing on Antarctica. It did a darn good job with this until it got a little stuck and a storm hit, sinking it under an ice floe. The crew’s journey, however, continued. They spent an entire winter camped on ice until they could row to another island. Shackleton and a few others continued to row another 800 miles to where they could initiate a rescue mission for the rest of the crew (nearly everyone survived!).
A true story of endurance, intelligence, compassion, resilience, adventure, and a respectable DNF!