October 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 metrics like average sleep, daily steps, and total workouts. I’ve been doing this monthly for two years now, and it’s proven to be a valuable tool for spotting trends, holding myself accountable, and fine-tuning habits. I highly recommend building a habit like this into your own routine.

Let’s get into it.

STEPS

Total: 357,477
Daily Average: 11,531

This was higher than expected—which was a nice surprise. The day I ran a half marathon, I logged over 30,000 steps, my highest day of the month. The lowest was a Sunday, with fewer than 7,000 steps.

Walking to the bus stop every day has made a noticeable difference in my totals, even though it’s a very short walk. But very short × twice a day × five days a week adds up to a lot of “extra” steps.

SLEEP

Average Score: 78
Average Sleep: 7 hours

Not a bad month in the sleep department. I wrote a lot about August and September—they were rough, and I wasn’t sleeping well. I was feeling its effects.

What’s interesting, and something I just realized while writing this, is that my average sleep score has basically been the same all year.

On one hand, that’s frustrating. I’ve been limiting caffeine, going to bed earlier, and making a real effort to get good rest. However, even though the number hasn’t changed—I know I feel better.

And that’s the dilemma with fitness trackers. I’m sure one day I’ll retire my Garmin and go back to a Casio like a proper old-school runner. But until then, I’m addicted to the data. I want to see what it does—even if that’s seemingly nothing.

Another note: I’ve always thought my watch overestimates “awake time” overnight. I’ve been paying close attention, and I regularly get up to an hour of recorded awake time—even on nights I never wake up and feel completely refreshed. Maybe it’s a limitation of the tracking tech? Because if I sleep for eight hours, my watch might credit me for 6:45 with 75 minutes awake.

Lastly, HRV. My HRV has been solid this month, back near baseline. Maybe this number is a better indicator of recovery, though there are still days when it’s low and I feel great anyway.

Bottom line: use this info to calibrate yourself and audit how you actually feel. Don’t rely on the data to tell you how you feel.

WORKOUTS

Total Workouts: 20
Run/Conditioning: 10
Lift: 10

Nice to see an even split between lifting and running. I raced twice—Vulcan’s Fury Trail Half Marathon and the Great Bay 5K—and all my other runs were easy trail sessions, 45–60 minutes each.

I deadlifted and bench-pressed most weeks, took on the GAIN October Challenge (finished 4th place), and got reacquainted with the AirBike.

Thanks for reading along. As always, I encourage you to build a monthly reflection practice like this. It’s one of the simplest ways to keep your health, fitness, and daily habits moving in the right direction.

—Justin Miner