Former Port Adelaide star Michael Wilson is training for the Hawaii Ironman

His body is battered from playing AFL, but former Port Adelaide premiership star Michael Wilson has a new sporting love.

17/9/15 - Port Adelaide premiership player Michael Wilson at his home in Heathfield with Leah his wife and their four kids Noah, 13, Lucy, 11, and twins Tom (green t-shirt) and Charlie, 8. Tom recently had surgery to remove a brain tumour. The whole family is going to cheer Michael on in the Hawaii Ironman in October. Photo Naomi Jellicoe

INJURIES forced Port Adelaide’s bionic man Michael Wilson to retire from football seven years ago but he never stopped running and is bound for next month’s Hawaii Ironman.

The last man to beat Kane Cornes in a time trial at the Power and who now works at the club as a physiotherapist, Wilson has qualified for triathlon’s holy grail — a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42.2km run.

Last month he ran a scorching 2hr 40min Adelaide Marathon where he finished second overall by just five seconds.

For anyone who likes to run with a watch, that’s 3min 48sec kilometres and all at the ripe old age of 38 with a rebuilt knee (twice), reconstructed shoulder, his Achilles sewn back together and a repaired hernia during his 192-game AFL career.

But his training and life was put on hold 10 weeks ago when his eight-year-old son Tom was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Tom, an identical twin, had been growing at a different rate to his brother Charlie for the past year and began experiencing problems with his sight.

After a series of tests he was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital’s emergency department where doctors diagnosed a craniopharyngioma the size of a golf ball. It is classed as a cancer but was benign and is not expected to spread.

“It was pretty sudden — it was into emergency, book in the surgery and out it came,” Wilson said.

“He’ll have lots of ongoing stuff to deal with, he’s doing bits and pieces at school and has good days and bad days and we just manage that between school, (wife) Leah, me and the hospital.

“It’s not like a broken leg where you operate, it’s fixed and you don’t worry about it again. But he’s OK and he’s got the all-clear to come with us to Hawaii which is a big relief.”

After a four-week break, Wilson resumed training in Adelaide’s winter hoping to prepare his body to race in mid-30 degree temperatures with high humidity and heat from the lava fields permeating through the bitumen on the island of Kona.

“The average temperature of a lot of the training sessions I’ve done has been five degrees, so training wise I’m getting it done and it might not match up well with Hawaii but you convince yourself that it’ll get you through,” he said.

“Usually I sit around the 18-20 hour mark (a week) for training.

“It’s time management, having four kids and a full-time job I’ve got to make sure that Leah is okay with what’s going on and I’m able to do the training.”

Port Adelaide premiership player Michael Wilson training to race the Hawaiian Ironman.

Port Adelaide premiership player Michael Wilson training to race the Hawaiian Ironman.

A heart-and-soul Port Adelaide footballer, Wilson retired from the game in 2008 with a premiership, rising star award and as one of the Power’s most-loved players.

It came at a physical cost for Wilson who endured four knee operations, two bung shoulders — which he carried into the 2004 grand final — broken ribs, a punctured lung, snapped Achilles and a hernia.

The meniscus on both sides of his right knee is “cooked” but it doesn’t stop him from pounding the pavement, clocking miles on his bike or swimming laps in the pool every day of the week.

The only injuries he has these days is because of freak accidents or kicking the footy with his kids.

“The only issue I had with my shoulders was when I put it into a windscreen when I was hit by a car and that put me out for a while,” Wilson said.

“The bike doesn’t hammer my knees too much and I know I can’t do as much running as other people would do.

“I know I can do 40 or 50km of running in a week which would be classed as low-end of training but I can still do enough to get me going quick enough for an Ironman.

“The snapped Achilles from 2007 gets me at the end of an Ironman because on my left side I’ve only got a half-sized calf so when I’m riding and go into a run, my left calf just gets really fatigued and starts to cramp.

“But that’s nothing at all really.”

Wilson had always maintained a passion for fitness during his football career which led to triathlon when he retired and he did his first Ironman in Busselton, WA, in 2013.

Busselton was where he qualified to race Hawaii when he finished an impressive fourth in his 35-39 year age group.

Hawaii on October 10 will be Wilson’s sixth Ironman.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I was a kid and when I was recovering from my injuries with footy I’d throw in a 3.8km swim or a long ride to see how I was going,” he said.

“It will be almost three years from when I started training to when I do Hawaii and I don’t know how people like Kevin Fergusson (SA world champion) do it years on end.

“I love riding a bike, swimming and running but the training load and time you put into it, I just need a break.

“I’m looking forward to fulfilling the dream of doing Hawaii, hopefully it’s a good day and spending time with the whole family.

“I’m not going to win it, I just want to go there and do well.”

Wilson has decided to sign up for Ride for a Reason which aims to raise funds for the Cancer Council.

MICHAEL WILSON

Age: 38

AFL games: 192 (1997-2008)

Club: Port Adelaide

Honours: SANFL premiership player 1995 and 1996, AFL premiership player 2004, AFL Rising Star 1997, Vice Captain 2006 and 2007.

Hawaii Ironman

When: October 20

Where: Kona, Hawaii

What: 3.8km swim, 180km ride, 42.2km run

Originally published as Former Port Adelaide star Michael Wilson is training for the Hawaii Ironman