Not sure what to do

I went for a really great bike ride yesterday. I mean really great. The weather, for once, was perfect, and I felt amazing and so happy and didn't want to stop riding. I probably would have ridden through a couple of towns if there was enough daylight.

If every day were like that, I'd have many more miles behind me. Unfortunately, my mileage dropped off severely this summer once the hot weather kicked in, and when I do run, I feel slow, out of shape, and basically like a hopeless case, even though I probably have it in me to be faster and stronger. Long runs always feel too slow -- sometimes so slow that it's nothing more than a shuffle. I've tried to kick up the intensity by doing some hill and interval training, but it's not consistent. None of my running is consistent, unless you count that it's consistently slow.

I feel like I must be doing something wrong. For example, one day I went out for a 7.5 miler. I felt exhausted from the beginning. I dragged myself through it at snail speed, and by mile 6.5 had blisters on my feet and stopped to walk. I figured that I'd try and give it one more shot, at a faster pace, and started running again, probably about twice as fast as before. And you know what? It felt great. I kept up the pace for the rest of the run and actually flew by other runners on the trail. How could I have such a great finish after 6.5 miles of not being able to go faster than a shuffle? Why can't I go at least moderately fast for the entire distance? I must be doing something wrong.

And I just don't know what to do with my training. The weather in general has been so hot that even if I have the motivation to push myself, I can't always physically do it. I had hopes of running some speedy 5Ks in September, but I'm afraid that I'm not getting the training in to make that possible, so I should probably re-evaluate those goals.

Maybe the nice weather will stick around long enough to get some runs as enjoyable as yesterday's bike ride to boost my motivation, and with any luck, the fall will bring some nice training runs and fun and successful races.

I think that I'll begin writing in this blog again to help keep track of how things are going. I've been getting into the habit of writing in my journal again, and I think I can split my writing between the two now.