Come July 6 and Saiyami Kher will be taking part in her second half Ironman race in Sweden. The actor has already left for the event and has some mixed emotions running. “This time around, actually I’m a little more nervous. It’s like growing up. When you’re young, you don’t have fears, but when you start getting experiences, then those fear start setting in,” she says.

Saiyami Kher did her first half Ironman last year in September, and thus she insists that she knows how demanding this would be. “The added fear is that this time, the race is eight times tougher as the terrain is very hilly. Last time, it was all flat routes. This is a more advanced race because it’s also the European championship. The people who win will qualify for the world championships, but I’m just trying to finish. This one’s even more challenging, but that’s what makes it even more exciting,” she shares.

While her training mostly remained the same as what she did for her first race—two hours daily and six hours on Sundays, training in running, cycling and swimming—she did add one addendum to it. “I started running on Pali Hill (Mumbai) and the steep slope near Shah Rukh Khan sir’s house (in Bandra, Mumbai). Those are the slopes I am running on for two to three kilometres. I am consciously doing more hill training, and that is what I changed around this time,” she shares, adding, “It’s more like a lifestyle for me now. It’s not so much that ‘bas aaj hi uth ke workout karna hai’. The day I don’t train, I feel something is wrong.”

Saiyami feels that while her last race was about her, this time she is doing it for the people who are rooting for her. “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I got after my first race. I was just doing it because I wanted to do it, but it just showed me the power of social media if it’s used in a positive way. The amount of people that have reached out to me saying, they want to start a healthy lifestyle after seeing me, is just so fulfilling because it’s something that you want people to adopt,” she says.

Not just among the common men, but the actor found some strong support within the industry too: “Even from the industry, there were so many people who reached out saying that it’s incredible what I’ve done. I am very proud of myself because there is no other female actor who’s done the Half Ironman. The sense of strength that comes with doing sports, trickles down to even in the roles that I choose, and I am very happy that I have played some strong characters due to that,” she ends.