Need help with measuring progress for 2008 goal

[Guest guest]

It's taken me until January 16 to solidify a 2008 goal but that's better than waiting until December 16th I guess! Last year I was working very hard to tone flapping in the wind muscles that had been revealed after I lost 25 pounds. I did cardio too but wasn't really working hard at it and now, while I still see a huge improvement in what I can do cardio-wise than I could a year or two ago, I want to work on that more this year (while continuing to work on strength and flexibility too) I want to see my cardio endurance improve for general health benefits and to help with weight maintenance but need to attach metrics to this so that I can really know I've improved and by how much. I have a heart rate monitor and I'm sure that will be useful but I'm not entirely sure how, in terms of my goal.

So... I'm reaching out to all the veteran exercisers and personal trainers. How can I assess my current cardiovascular fitness (and am I even using the correct term) at home? How can I know it has improved? What is a reasonable expectation in terms of improvement (and can that even be answered without knowing my current level) and of course, how do I measure the improvement and how often should I reassess it? I was thinking I could do a workout that is challenging but not impossible for me now, measure my heart rate during it and then do it again every few months to see what changes I might there might be but I'm not sure if that is really going to help. I'd prefer it if there was a more consistent, reliable way to measure than that seems.

Thanks for any help!