July 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.

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: 333,471
Daily Average: 10,757

Not running as much is having an impact on my steps, obviously. Last year in July I had 150k more steps-which makes sense. I was running a lot more than I am now. Keeping that daily average over 10k is appropriate for me, even if I’m not logging tons of miles.

SLEEP

Average Sleep Score: 80
Average Duration: 6 hours 47 minutes

The years long battle to increase my sleep duration continues, but I am holding steady with a solid average of 80. My average sleep score in July 2025 was 77-so it’s an improvement from last year. The sleep score range was tight too, not too many big drops, like a night in the 60s, or something like that.

I did have a few weeks of a low HRV in July. Honestly, I don’t pay much attention to it. I enjoy tracking it and seeing that data, but if my HRV is unbalanced and I feel okay, I don’t care that it’s unbalanced. I’ve settled on this; all the data is cool, but my overnight resting heart rate tells the whole story. If my resting HR is low, my sleep score is probably good. If my sleep score is good, my HRV is typically good. And if I slept well, I probably trained and moved a lot that day.

TRAINING

Total workouts: 20
Runs: 6

I’ve been having fun training, even though it looks a little different than in past summers. I’m not on a plan, but instead, I’m following a weekly checklist. I have 6-7 things, or types of workouts I want to do each week and I pick them off as I go. My perfect week is 2 Olympic weightlifting sessions, 1 heavy day of squats or deadlifts, 1 machine cardio day, 1 trail run, 1 running workout.

I took most of the week off during vacation. It was nice. In year’s past I would hammer running hard during vacation, often doing double session runs. It was nice to not do that this year.

Final Thoughts

I always learn a thing or two when I do this monthly reflection, which is why I always encourage you to build a similar practice. It’s an easy way to check in and see how you’re doing and where you may be able to improve. Thanks for reading!

—Justin Miner