Next time, I'll make sure to give an accurate swim time, more like 4:40 instead of the 5:20 I supplied. It might not have made much difference, but I stayed in line, didn't try to pass, and it felt very slow. I caught up to the swimmer in front of me in the first length of the pool. Watching the earlier swimmers go out, the guys who passed people looked like jerks, kept hitting other swimmers coming down the lane the other way head on, so I had decided I would just trail the swimmer in front of me, regardless. The key here, it seems to me, is give an accurate time and get seeded behind someone same speed as you or just slightly faster and then don't don't let them get too far ahead of you. Lesson learned.
Also, riding a single-speed bike was a bit of macho I wouldn't repeat. I'll get a geared bike before doing this again. The bike portion is probably where I could improve the most. Hard to build up any momentum going downhill without a high gear to work with, can never go very fast, and that's momentum you don't have to spend on the flats or coming to the start of a hill. Bet I could get under 30 minutes for next time.
As far as the running goes, I'm not sure how much more speed I can cultivate. My time there might represent about the best I can expect when it's 90 degrees out. Cooler conditions though, I bet that'd come down a bit as well.
