January 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: 320,718

Daily Average: 10,346

This was the most steps I’ve taken in the month of January since 2020—which is a pretty random stat, but one that caught my attention. Over 300,000 steps in January isn’t typical for me, so I looked back over the past several years, and sure enough, this stands out.

It’s nice to see that I’m getting in more movement than usual right now, especially in the dead of winter.

SLEEP

Average Sleep Duration: 6 hours 53 minutes

Average Sleep Score: 80

I improved my average sleep score! I logged a couple nights in the 90s, including my new high score, a 95 on the night of January 17th. I’m doing all the same things I have been doing; trying to go to bed earlier than I want, reading before bed and being considerate of my caffeine intake.

Even though my sleep scores are climbing, my nightly magnesium habit has been slacking.

Despite that, my REM numbers have been improving too.

HRV has been balanced, though starting to trend downward now.

WORKOUTS

Total Workouts: 18

Run: 12

Lift: 6

I started the year off like I have been every year recently, with a summit of Parker Mountain. I managed to have a bit of a routine and lift on Monday and Thursday, but after I got into the VT100k, I spent a week neglecting my lifting and only ran. I thought, wow that’s a really far race, better start soon! When in reality, it’s too soon to start. After that I had a cold and kind of did nothing for 6 or 7 days—which is very rare.

Coming off those rest days I was feeling stiff and unmotivated. I’m trying for an epic comeback week, I just want a normal week.

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