I'm certainly no seasoned pro but I have found a few things out as an un-coached age grouper...

Good swimming is a function of technique. I would tell you what I tell myself all of the time..."until you get a coach or someone to work on your technique with you, you're going to stay pretty much where your are at". Swim videos are great but unless you're specifically someone who doesn't need to be shown what you are doing wrong, they'll have somewhat limited value.

On the running...a good triathlon run is pretty much about getting off the bike fresh. If your run times are more than 10-15% slower during triathlon than in open races, you're most likely hammering too hard on the bike. One way I have found to help with building bike speed is participating in local group rides with other cyclists. I seem to push harder and get faster. I have folks I can ride with that are triathletes so using the TT bike is not an issue.

Good luck on getting faster. If you make that a goal, I believe you will achieve it.

I, like you had the same feelings after my first IM. I gave up trying to figure it out on my own, and hooked up with a coach. I now coach, but still have a coach. Single best move I ever made.

Swimming wise, those times show huge technique issues. If you can get some video of your swimming, we could help you out. Can't really help without seeing what the issues are.

If you aren't running fast off the bike, you aren't biking enough. I had a post once, on how I got faster on the bike, search my history of posts and you'll find it.

First of all, congrats! You get the BAMF award. Those are some pretty big accomplishments in your first year.

Issue 1:
Lots of things can lead to a poor run(but you're a good runner). So, think about this. If you're feeling cramped or bloated on the run, you probably went too hard on the bike, and took in too many calories. If your HR is too high on the bike, and you throw in some heat and humidity, much of that blood flow is shunted away from aiding digestion, and towards self preservation. So better bike fitness will allow you to hold the same 18.5-19.5 at a lower HR, allowing more blood to flow to the gut, keeping you out of the portojohn on the run.

For bike fitness, here's the thread that vjohnson mentions. Really good stuff here:
http://www.trifuel.com/forum/25819/18mph-to-24mph-how-i-did-it

Issue 2:
Find a swim instructor, not necessarily a Master's swim coach(nothing wrong with that)...Someone that you can meet with 1:1 a few times that will film you above and more importantly below water and even review the video right there on the pool deck while you're thinking about it. Finding someone to critique your swim technique is the best swim investment you can make and will probably knock 20 minutes off your IM swim.

Here is a before and after critique I had last year. It has helped immensely.
http://www.pingjeffgreene.com/archive/2011/02/learning-how-to-swim-faste...

I would recommend joining a masters swim group for at least a year. You pick up a lot of things that will improve your swimming technique and overall times. It also keeps you connected with reality. 8)

Don't worry about catch and glide, work on body position/turnover/rotation. We sometimes pay so much attention to our "arms", we forget what sets up our "arms" to be able to do what they should be doing. A low hip/leg, won't allow for a proper high elbow catch. Hips go up, legs go up, then it is easier to "catch". If you don't rotate properly, and stay square to the water, again the catch is very difficult to do. When you are on your side, it is easier to get your arm in the position to properly catch.

Stand up.... raise the arms up in front of the shoulder.. (like a zombie walk). Now drop the forearm into a vertical position without moving the elbow much. Now standing upright, turn your body 90 degrees, and raise one arm up (like you are holding a bow). Now drop the forearm to a vertical position, without moving the elbow much. It "should" be easier to get the arm in an early vertical forearm position when you are on your side, as opposed to square/straight.

So if you are trying to work on catch, but your body position is off, you'll be banging your head against the wall. Just from my experience, the athletes I've worked with, with IM swim times in your range, 100% of the issues are body position and rotation. Once those issues are addressed, the catch falls into place.

Racing is a great way to improve fitness and experience. It also breaks up the grind of training. I race once a month, and only at the end of a recovery week. So I cycle through 3 weeks of training, 1 week recovery. On the weekend of the recovery week, I race. The race distance depends on where I am in training. So yes, go for a fall HIM!!!

If I might add my 2 cents- another suggestion would be to check out your area for any tri clubs. I think most large metropolitan areas would have at least a few. It took me a little while to find one that was the right fit, but I eventually did, and it's been a great resource, both for swim coaching as well as group bike rides and runs. All the clubs I contacted in my area were willing to let me tag along on one or two runs/rides/swim sessions without joining, to make sure it was the right fit.

[quote=vjohnson]If you aren't running fast off the bike, you aren't biking enough. I had a post once, on how I got faster on the bike, search my history of posts and you'll find it.[/quote]

Sure, work on your swim, you can definitely improve, BUT...

Read the quote above 100 times... you went 1:29 at IMTX? That's not bad for your level of experience. You could work really hard and get that down to, 1:09? Nice improvement.
Improve your biking, and that improves your run, and you could take HUGE chunks of time off the combined bike/run. I'm in my sixth year, and I'm still focused on this. at the expense of my swim.

Just to give you another example: I did Vineman a couple years back and was swiming 3x a week in open water with some really fast guys. I was in swim shape and I went 1:06.
This year I hadn't swam in three months, shattered by collarbone and stayed out for another three months. After PT I did six swim workouts of nothing longer than 2,500 yards. Last weekend I went 1:13. So all that swim work and training time was worth less than ten minutes to me. Could I get faster? Sure, I could easily get myself back to a sub hour guy. But not when my bike-run combo still sucks. I'm going after the big chunks of time.

Just to compliment what VJ said about the catch technique. I find that using swim paddles helps develop a good catch. Make sure you get a pair that are the right size for your hands. Go easy and slow with them, especially at first. I usually do a 400m warmup anyways at an easy pace. Sometimes I like to do my warmup with swim paddles and a pull buoy. It helps set me up for a good catch when I move into the interval training later on during the session.