how to know you are "beating" a limit

[cfjr2]

Lately I have been having 'good' sessions. I may be down 5-10bb or up 5-10 or 20 (sometimes more). I would say avg session in the 4-8 hour range. (I play .50 / 1 limit)

The hands, even when I lose, feel right - I think about the play while folding and waiting for another playable hand. I still see mistakes - should've bet on the river with a non-scary board, shoulda raised in that situation as it might have folded a bad hand that sucked out, etc.

last night I lost 40bb and no matter what I did it just did not get better. I played what I think was a good session but kept getting beat by Axo from this one guy and other incredible hands - even when they were raised into for 1 more or even 2 cold.

I ask because, lately, I get a session like this and drop down to ~100 - 150bb bankroll (in the account - I invest a bit each month to get reload bonuses, etc so i could have 300+ if needed so that isn't an issue). I then work back up to around 175 - 200bb and then get another session like this. net effect is to leave me treading water.

So is it just a matter of time before I can string enough winning sessions together? Do the folks that have beat this limit (and others) have any guidelines like - once I have this limit beat I only took 15bb downswings max?

This seems logical to me since, except in very bad circumstances, it seems that the good players that have moved on, seem to have significantly lower down variance than when playing at their 'level'. If this is the case then I would know when I have it "right" and then it is just a matter of time to accumulate the bankroll, or is this just wrong and the only indication that you've mastered a level is when you accumulate enough to move up?

I know it is possible to have a bad run - but how do I tell the difference? How do I know if I need to make adjustments vs. just a bad session?

regards,
Charles