December by the Numbers
Welcome to this month’s edition of By The Numbers, where I break down data from my watch and training log to reflect on the past month.
Each month, I track a few simple metrics—average sleep, daily steps, and total workouts. I’ve been doing this consistently for over two years, and it’s become one of the most useful tools I have for spotting trends, holding myself accountable, and fine-tuning habits. I highly recommend building a practice like this into your own routine.
Let’s get into it.
Steps
Total: 343,351
Daily Average: 11,076
A nice comeback from November, with about 60,000 more total steps this month. December also helped solidify another full year averaging over 10,000 steps per day.
Somehow, December included my longest 10k-step streak of the year at 12 consecutive days. Not exactly a massive streak, but honestly, I’m not even sure how it happened.
Sleep
Average Sleep Duration: 6 hours, 45 minutes
Average Sleep Score: 79
HRV:
7-day average: 56 ms
Overnight average: 71 ms
Overall, a good month of sleep. I hit my highest sleep score of the year (91) twice in December. I still can’t seem to get past that number, but I’ve noticed that when I’m consistently getting up at the same time, my sleep scores tend to follow.
HRV dipped slightly right after Thanksgiving during the first few days of the month, then stayed right at baseline for most of December—except for one day when it jumped above my baseline range. That was the first time I showed as “unbalanced” due to too much variability, which caught my attention. I’d always assumed more variability was better.
Workouts
Total Workouts: 15
Runs: 8
Lift: 4
AirBike: 2
Sled: 1
I took the sled out for 37 laps on my birthday, my first b-day sled in 4 years.
Overall, enthusiasm to train has been a bit lackluster. I’ve been getting out for trail runs and genuinely enjoying them, but lifting has been harder to get into a rhythm with. Right now, I’m trying to focus on checking the box—getting the work done with minimal fanfare and trusting consistency over motivation.
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading along. As always, I encourage you to build a monthly reflection practice like this into your routine. It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep your health, fitness, and daily habits moving in the right direction over the long haul.
— Justin Miner