http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/ en hurriken1@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-07-22T09:09:46+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/trouble_with_website/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/trouble_with_website/#When:08:09:46Z I am having a lot of trouble with the website at the moment.. Should be back up and running at full swing with new pics,video and blog soon. Either way in Szolnok in Hungary at the moment training hard! We were meant to be racing the Hungarian Champs this weekend but at last minute apparently a couple of HUN coaches didn’t want us there.. BOOOO!!! Was looking forward to the weekend in Szeged! General 2010-07-22T08:09:46+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/warm_up_for_world_cup_2_szeged-hun/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/warm_up_for_world_cup_2_szeged-hun/#When:12:52:34Z It has been a very rough few weeks since World Cup 1. Mainly due to the weather, crazy winds, rain and under 10 degrees for almost a week. It will be interesting to see how I go this weekend. I have not really managed to get up and over 100 stroke rate the entire time in training at all and during 1000m race i probably don’t want to drop to far from that. We’ll see. I’m heading down to check out the course now. Szeged always manages to put on a really good World Cup event. Along with the racing goes the after racing activities with a really good city centre to walk through and General 2010-05-26T12:52:34+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/world_cup_1_vichy_fra/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/world_cup_1_vichy_fra/#When:09:19:10Z The website has been down for a couple of weeks but I’m back. World Cup 1 definitely didn’t begin the season the way I had hoped. With the jet-lag from flying in just a few days before and the 15 races throughout the weekend let’s just say they didn’t exactly help my cause. The course itself, well, where do I start… For everybody that went to WC1 you would agree that it was quite possibly the worst course I have ever been on. The course itself is literally a river, it was flowing so fast the 1000m final was almost 10 seconds faster than the previous World record. The flow of the river didn’t stop the logs, dead cats and other debris floating through the course. The concrete walls on both sides of the course meant wash from the races, and the 4 pontoon boats couldn’t subside. So trying to sit on a swivel seat in those conditions was like paddling in a Surf Ski race or maybe I just need to learn how to balance. I know nobody can do anything about the weather but the 4°C, raining and snow, that we saw on the way to the course, was a bit much for me coming from +25°c everyday leading into it. The actual venue itself and the organisers did a great job in every other way and I’m sorry to be so negative about the place. However, I still can’t believe that the ICF still want to hold the Olympic selection and World Championships there next year… The rest of the Australian men’s team were feeling the effects also but it was good to see Jo Brigden-Jones staying strong for the Australian contingent in the woman’s events. The day after the racing finished we couldn’t believe it, it came out sunny with 24°c. That night the men’s team arrived back into warm Budapest, Roxy radio blaring through the speakers and back to good old BOTEL in Csepel. The Goulash soup I think has got better since last year. The pic above is courtesy of Balint Vekassy, Cheers. Sorry I wasn’t looking happy all weekend. General 2010-05-17T09:19:10+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/packed_but_no_where_to_go/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/packed_but_no_where_to_go/#When:00:47:30Z Yes, I know I have been extremely slack with keeping up to date with this. Once i get to Europe hopefully I will get better at keeping up to date as I should be fairly bored between training sessions. In brief - National Kayak Champs. Secured both 1000m and 500m K1 spots for Worlds with other events still pending race offs. Aussie Surf Champs. Huge / Messy / Tragedy, Non forgiving surf. I had made through all the races until it got called off half way through the carnival. Now I am packed ready to go to Europe and apparently there is a bit of a cloud over Frankfurt airport which is stopping us from flying in. Stuck in Aus for another week which is a lot better than being stuck in an airport. Hopefully I can get to Europe in time to recover from jet lag before World Cup 1. General 2010-04-20T00:47:30+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/grand_prix_-_penrith_sydney/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/grand_prix_-_penrith_sydney/#When:22:39:51Z Quite a fair bit has happened since my last update. I am sorry I have been so lazy with updating. Xmas was great, I got myself a couple of presents, one being a house and all the extras to fill it and a bigger and faster jetski. To compliment these two I was able to snag myself a couple of new sponsors, Phiz TV and Think Ocean Ski’s. These two new sponsors have really enabled me to knuckle down and actually let me approach kayaking from a professional perspective. Part of one of these new sponsorships is the new car shown in the pic. (I had to test its four-wheel drive capabilities, nothing too crazy). I have approached training this year slightly differently. Everything seems to be going well as I raced at the Oceania Championships on the weekend which was my first major regatta for the year. The weekend started off quite badly as I ate a dirty Kebab the night before but still managed to make it through my heats. I was happy and so were the fish I fed after the race. By Saturday I was feeling a little better and a little drained but still managed to win the 500m that day and even backed up to win the 1000m the following day. Both races I thought were quite good times considering the conditions and time of the year. However, there was weed everywhere which was nothing out of the ordinary at Penrith. It was a really good competition with a large contingent of New Zealand paddlers and as always Murray Stewart kept everyone honest. After the weekend there was an article in the paper headlining “Wobbly Wallace” I thought that was quite funny, the paper must be running out of headlines for kayaking. Right now I am spending some good honest time on the couch watching the Winter Olympics on TV. It is inspirational to watch. No matter what the sport you know that athlete is at the top of their game, leaving nothing to spare and going as hard as they can!  If for some unknown reason I wasn’t unable to compete in kayaking I would love to take up a winter sport. Men’s Downhill or Moguls! General 2010-02-15T22:39:51+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/altitude_house/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/altitude_house/#When:08:19:56Z After a grueling two weeks in Thredbo the group and I moved into the Altitude house at the Australian Institute of Sport - Canberra. In this house we have to stay inside for at least 14hrs a day to get full effect of the 3000m that it is set at. I can’t say it is the most comfortable place sharing small rooms with 2 other guys, door alarms going off if they aren’t shut properly and the constant smell of 8 guys living in very close proximity but I could probably call it “Team Building” exercise. The water that we train on isn’t that good because the AIS rowing team is based here as well as another 3 or so rowing clubs. This all takes place on the same lake which makes it very busy and including all the motor boats following the rowing. Maybe we are just training at the wrong time? Other than that training is going well, I am doing 4 gym sessions a week and paddling most mornings. The AIS main facility here in Canberra is great hosting many sports, there is everything an athlete could need, biomechanics testing, physiology, physiotherapy, big dining hall you name it they have it and if not they will do their best to get it…within reason. I am looking forward to this weekend being invited along to the V8 Supercars racing this weekend around Olympic park in Sydney, Homebush. For all those who went to the Sydney Olympics, around the Olympic Village. Then on the Sunday night Flying down to Melbourne to see one of my best mates, Keithy. Should be a fun weekend, hopefully all the training I have done in the last 3 weeks doesn’t fade away. The pic above was taken at the highest point of Australia don’t ask us why we thought this would be funny…?   General 2009-12-03T08:19:56+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/on_top_of_the_world_biggest_island/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/on_top_of_the_world_biggest_island/#When:21:49:39Z It has been a very long time since I have written anything on the blog. Sorry. Since the World Championships I have been keeping very busy whether it be in the surf or travelling around Australia to functions and events. It has been a lot of fun but now I guess it’s that time of the year again to knuckle down and get back into training. For the next two weeks I am training up in Thredbo, which is roughly 2 hours form Australia’s Capital, Canberra. We haven’t done a lot of on water paddling at all but bike riding, running, gym and hill climbing. Yesterday as you can see by the picture I am literally sitting on the highest point of Australia. The legs aren’t feeling too good after the climb. This is where I am putting my Bodyscience compression wear to good use to try and recover between sessions. 
On another note, I am extremely happy to be named runner up of the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the year and being named Australian Canoeing Athlete of the year again. I was a little disappointed to see that my coach Jimmy got overlooked for Australian Canoeing Coach of the year considering he managed to have athletes in 4 finals at this years World Championships, claiming 2 medals let alone the World Cup Finals and Medals…? General 2009-11-20T21:49:39+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_3_4_finals/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_3_4_finals/#When:11:17:27Z That was the end of another year kayaking, they just come and go so fast and slow at the same time. Basically I ended up with a 5th in the 1000m and a 3rd in the 500m. I will give a full run down of the weekend events in a few days. I have to be packed and on a bus in 20min to the airport and I still have to pack.  Big congratulations to Anders Gustafsson smashed up the weekend consistently!! Also to Luke Morrison and David Smith Aussie k2 1000m silver. Yewww. General 2009-08-17T11:17:27+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_2_semi-finals/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_2_semi-finals/#When:23:15:20Z After yet another early start today I am happy to say that i am through to both A finals, 1000m and 500m.
The Semi-Finals are tough races considering that there are 9 in the race and only the top 2 and the fastest 3rd place getter from 4 semis go through to the Final.  In the warm up for the race there were officials cleaning up any weed that may have floated onto the course, there was still a little bit left but I managed not to catch any on my rudder or front of my boat. My 1000m this morning went smoothly and I went on to win the semi. I will be racing the 1000m Final at 09:00hr Canadian time tomorrow which is 22:00hr Aussie time. 
Definitely one of my highlights racing this year was racing another 2 Olympic Champions both at 500m. When only 2 people progress to the finals this was going to be a problem unless one of us was the fastest 3rd. Lucky for me our semi was the fastest and I progressed through as the 3rd fastest time. It was a really close race with 3 very different racing styles. Between myself and 2nd place Adam Vk was less than 0.1sec and between 2nd and 1st, Ronie Rauhe was 0.2 of a second.
 The thing that makes it more rewarding is that both of these guys are really good blokes. It was great racing with them. 
Congratulations to my Aussie training partners I have had for the last 4 months with all 4 of them making there respective A Finals ( K2 1000m David Smith, Luke Morrison ) and (K2 500m Jacob “Pistol” Clear, Murray Stewart). It is rewarding for me to see how hard these guys have been training and to get an outcome like this so far. I am quite sure that I will be writing tomorrow and the next on how well these guys went in their Finals! General 2009-08-14T23:15:20+00:00 http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_1_heats/ http://kenwallace.com.au/blog/day_1_heats/#When:23:02:39Z Day 1 finished. 3 to go. My 1000m was first up this morning at 9.14am which means that I am eating breakfast at around 6. There aren’t to many people in the Dining hall around that time just some still sleepy eyed K1 and C1 paddlers. If they are thinking the same as me it is why am I racing K1 again, always early mornings, eating at odd times, often being the 1st people at the course and close to the last to leave, It does get lonely, he he. Good thing I have Jimmy my coach to torment as well with the 6am rise. See you in the morning Jimmy! My 1000m heat was always going to be tough having the other 2 podium place getters from the last World Cup. It was going good until around the 550m mark and I caught a heap of weed on my rudder and front of boat, It probably wasn’t slowing me down that much but I figure when 6 places go through to the Semi I don’t need to win the heat so I slowed right down conserving energy for the rest of the week. I am through to the Semi-Final some time around 9am again tomorrow. The 500m on the other hand was good. I won my heat into a really strong head wind which has also put me straight through to the semi final tomorrow. The Semi-Finals are always tough when out of 9 people racing only the top 2 will progress through to the final. It basically means that everybody is really going for it! I’m sure everything will work out though. General 2009-08-13T23:02:39+00:00