THOUGHTS

I'm home from Oberstdorf, Germany and my first full day of training resumes tomorrow. Before I go back to that "doing something every minute" routine, I wanted to take some time to fill you in on my
experience in Germany. I'll spill the beans now so that I don't keep you in suspense :-)

I feel really good about the competition when I think back on it. It was definitely a week full of struggles, but I fought through it and was able to put it all together for my long program.

Now that the anticipation in the air has thinned, here's the long version: The week begun with 24 hours of travel to reach Oberstdorf. Diana (my coach) and I flew from Colorado Springs to Chicago, had a four hour layover, then went on to London, and finally to Munich. From there we got on three different trains to reach Oberstdorf. Oberstdorf is the southern most town in Germany and is right on the border of Austria. All the travel is definitely worth it because this place is beautiful. It is a picture perfect little town nestled in a valley partially encompassed by the Austrian Alps. Cows were lead through the town every morning and evening going to and from the pastures on the mountainside.

They all had bells around their necks that announced their procession through town. There were also gorgeous flowers on every balcony and garden. This town asset was due mostly to a downside, it rained ALL THE TIME. Fortunately, my last day there was sunny and beautiful so I was able to enjoy the rewards of all that rain.

I arrived in Germany Saturday night and the competition began on Tuesday. Sunday and Monday I wasn't skating anywhere near as well as I was at home. I didn't feel nervous but it was obvious by the way I was
skating that there was anxiety deep down. Diana helped me realize that I was trying to make everything perfect which in reality was screwing everything up! I wasn't letting the jumps "flow". From there my focus
changed to expecting there to be mistakes and simply sticking with each jump to make the needed adjustments. That did wonders and things started turning around. I guess it also didn't help that I was dealing with pain in both knees. The same old tendonitits was in the right knee and I somehow stressed a ligament on the inside of my left one about a week before I left. Oops... Well, I've got to thank God that both knees were feeling pretty good during the competition.

In my short program I made two mistakes which is one more than you can make to be a contender. I was in eighth place out of twenty one skaters after the short. This was disappointing but very good considering the mistakes I made. I could have been dumped a lot farther if my other elements and artistic impression marks weren't as strong. So, that program was over with and I became a man on a mission for the final day of competition. (Wow, I'm a poet and didn't even know it!) The morning of the long program I had my best practice all week and hardly missed a thing. Then on the six minute warm up right before the event I was messing things up right and left! Oye-vey. I spent the time before my program getting myself into the right mental state where I could skate my best. I use the number 54 as a cue for that. 54 represents my ideal arousal level (out of 100), the right amount of energy, and sticking right in the moment on everything I do. All that is embodied in that number. I was able to get where I needed to be because I skated a great
long program. I felt strong, stayed on my feet (yeah), and gave a great performance. It was by far the best I skated since I arrived in Germany. The only mistakes I made were slight two footed landings on the
triple axel and second triple lutz, and the triple salchow- triple loop combination had a shaky landing where I turned forward and put my other foot down. It was a redemptive skate that made the whole week worth while. I didn't move at all placement-wise but that's not exactly in my control.


Other highlights of the week include being the only U.S. Team member who spoke and understood any German. I'm no where near fluent but was able to get around. I really enjoyed speaking another language (or attempting to) and my goal before I return there is to become fluent. I also forgot how fun it was hanging out with a team for a week and getting to know many new people. We also hit-up (visited) the town dance club the last two nights which was loads of fun.
That's about it.
Sincerely,

Ryan Jahnke

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