Follow your dreams, work hard, practice and persevere. Make sure you eat a variety of foods, get plenty of exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I eat a variety of foods like vegetables, fruit and beef for protein and iron.

I'm a competitive person and I love the challenge of mastering new things.

I want to be the first lady to land a quadruple jump in competition. As I grow older, I know that my skating style will develop and mature.

My academic schedule is lighter this year because it's an Olympic year.

My family has always been there to support me along the way. My coach, John Nicks, is a great influence.

Skating has always been a major area of interest to me.

A year ago I had a back injury and followed a good nutrition program to help speed up my recovery. I focused on exercise and staying healthy in order to get back out on the ice.

I skate about 15 to 20 hours a week and also incorporate a lot of off-ice training. I take ballet and Pilates classes and lift weights with my physical therapist when I'm not on the ice.

I worked with my coach to develop some new spiral variations to make my program more interesting. Each one is different and you'll have to wait until January to see them.

I'm used to a very busy schedule. Right now it revolves around training and preparing for Nationals in January. I'm usually at the rink from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and then I attend public school for two hours, three times per week.

My training has been going really well these past few days and my goal is to keep it up for the next few weeks and hopefully earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

The night before I compete, I like to have steak. Meat is especially important for female athletes because it provides them with the nutrients they need to perform at their best.