Sorta New - Online vs Live Chess

I'm 49 years old and have been playing chess on and off since I can remember, but always as a social game, never competitively.  I played around with some computer games, but never really concentrated on getting better.  I've never read a book on chess, never studied openings, etc.I guess I could be categorized as an amatuer social chess player.  

Now I've got some time on my hands, and I really want to learn the game, and try to improve.  I had an account on here about a year ago, and got way too much into it, joined about 10 tournaments, and suddenly had over 200 online games going at once.  Way too much!  So I burned out, and now I'm just getting into it slowly again.

I'm going through the study plans slowy.  I'm playing 6 online games at a time, 5 regular chess, 1 960 chess, just to learn it too.

Now since I've been back on here, I think I've won my first 5 games, my rating is over 1400.  I think this is a bit high because I still make stupid mistakes, but I figure after 50 games that will be a baseline from which I can see my improvement.  

The study plan I am looking at says to play at least 2 live games a day, which I have been.  Now the point of this post, after this long introduction.

Why do I suck at timed live chess so much, as opposed to the correspondence chess where I'm doing so well.  My live chess rating for 15 minute games is <800.  My correspondence chess rating is >1400.  That's a huge huge difference.  Obviously that timer is bothering me some how some way.

Has anybody else ever been in my shoes?  What are other's thoughts about this?

Good games to all,

James