So finally, I think this week has been the best week (so far) of exercise to date.  Ever.  Seriously.  I've been doing my intervals, sure, but I've also been trying to do some cardio on my off days.  I hate cardio.  I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it.  Like seriously.  This is not joke, people.  But I paced myself.  I did an hour on the elliptical on Sunday where one year ago, I couldn't do fifteen minutes without wanting to cry and hurt defenseless creatures in retaliation.  I just hit a groove.  It was awesome.  I paid a lot of attention to how I was feeling, where my heartbeat was, etc. and I just ... felt it.  I relaxed and it just felt good.  I felt like I could have gone longer and I wasn't crying like a child that got candy stolen when I was done.  It was awesome.  Oh, and intervals help GREATLY with endurance, too.  They make regular cardio feel like nothing.  Then yesterday, I was reading while I was on the elliptical.  I found out reading makes time go even faster than music when you're doing cardio.  Anyhow, Ryan suggested I read Getting Things Done, since I can't get anything done, and it was talking about athletes, that relaxation and just the groove.  It was cool.  I really felt it and went an hour yesterday as well.  Honestly, this may not be exciting to some, but it feels good for me.  Between the two workouts, the machine claims I burned 1500 calories.  Awesome.  One of my big problems before was that I always hated cardio, even when I used to run Cross Country and Track.  It felt incredible to really hit that stride, though. 

So now, though, I need your help ... the target heart rate.  I've been trying to pace myself and find the ideal heart rate for my cardio workouts.  According to a calculator I found online, and others have given similar results, I should be about 115 - 150 for my target heart rate.  On Sunday, I was in the 170-180 range.  Yesterday, I was right around 150, but I kept feeling like I should be going faster, even when I was trying to pace myself.  I felt like I could have gone for a second hour.  It's not that I didn't feel like I exercised, I did.  I actually felt really great when I was done.  I felt satisfied.  Still, though, I had to work harder to keep my heart rate down than I did to actually get the exercise.  So what's the deal?  Is it different for different people?  Is that just an estimation?  I don't want to push myself too hard, but I also felt like I could have done a lot more (and I did two days earlier) without pushing myself too hard.  

Regardless, this week's really felt great with the workouts.  It's the first time in a long time that I've really been feeling great about working out.  It's nice.  Now if only I could start losing weight again!