Back but lacking the winter base

After around a month of changed training pattern and the first venture out onto the road since December I realised I'm lacking quite a bit of base from the reduced winter riding. More specifically the lack of any real long rides over the winter has taken it's toll.

Work stress and a general lack of time (plus the weather) meant I ended up spending all the time indoors, even on the odd sunny day, to try and get the most out of the time I had available.
Over the weekend I went for an hour and a half ride, which was interesting and a bit painfull to realise the difference out on the road. I kept my HR low and though I'd just go for a reasonably gentle couple of hours, although it ended up a lot shorter than expected. Getting out late did not help either and part of the decision to cut the ride short.

Last night I spent an hour and a bit on the trainer watching an episode of top gear, which was quite hilarious as the film crew or editing suite made sure they captured Clarkson breaking the law twice (crossing a single line and overtaking on hash markings). After that I thought I'd see what I could do for 5 minutes and set off gently just over 400W. Towards the end I was doing around 460W and my HR up at 179bpm (need rest / more sleep). The average ended up around 443W, which does not seem too bad and makes me thing I need to get some more miles in gently to round off before building further. I think I still have the possibility of an additional 50W to add onto this, providing I get the right training and rest.