My First Sprint Tri- Big guy report

Hi Everybody, I really have enjoyed reading stories of athletes first race so here is my story.
I'm 55 and in February I got an early retirement package from my company after 32 years. I decided to spend more time in the gym but found I was wasting my time working out unless I set a goal. So I started at the end of July training for a sprint triathlon on Sept 13th. I started at about 285LBs although its a little deceiving because I worked out every morning and never really considered myself fat but I knew once I started training that I have to get some weight off to take some stress off my legs. I started swimming 3 days a week and I first I couldn't do 4 laps in a 25yd pool.
Well fast forward 4 weeks, I felt good about so good about my training that I decided to enter my first sprint triathlon on Sept 1st. (300M swim 16 mile bike and 5K run).I was up to swimming 70 laps at a time twice a week and biking 65 miles a week and running about 12 miles a week. I had only lost about 15lbs but I still felt like I was ready to go.
I got to the location early and set up my transition and just hung around and chatted with some of the guys next to me. A few were also doing their first race which made me feel like less of an albatross. You see people of all shapes and sizes but I quickly felt like I was the largest old guy there.(they put your age on your right calf so you could see the age of other competitors. I also had a big C on my left calf which I really didn't need as people could tell I was a Clydesdale!.
So here is how the race went. I started the swim when it was my turn and I found myself passing people! I didn't think that would happen but I think my predicted swim time placed me with a fairly slow group.I think I averaged 2:13/100M. I felt good at the end of the swim and ran out to my bike and did my transition which I had practiced. I felt like I did ok in the first transition but post race data said I was actually pretty slow compared to some of the other competitors. Helmet,sunglasses, socks, shoes, heart rate monitor, shirt and then walking the bike to get on. I hadn't really practiced walking very far with my bike and bike shoes on which I think caused some of the time delay.

The bike was two loops of an 8 mile course and I passed a few people but there was also the speed racers from the earlier group on their second lap blowing by me.. I felt good on the bike and averaged 16.2 MPH which was above where I had been training. The post race data did say that I was in the middle of the pack but I know with more training I can go faster.
In the second transition I once again thought I did pretty well but the time was also again on the high side and slow as compared to others.

And then it was time to run...That is when I hit the wall. I just couldn't get the legs going I ran about 1/2 mile before I started walking and mixing in jogging a little. I finished the run averaging a 12:49 mile which was much slower than I had practiced. The strange thing was that I really didn't feel that fatigued getting off the bike but that quickly changed when the calves started tightening up and the legs felt like lead.
I finished over all at 1:47:35 which put me 5th out of 11 in the over 40 Clydesdale division. I felt good in the end but know I can do better.
Some key learnings:
-getting to the race early and taking in all that was going on was a fun part of the day
-Give an accurate swim time. I think it is better to be passed in the pool than try to pass people.
-Think about your transitions and running with your bike and getting in and out
- I think I needed more training on running after biking which I will work on for my next race. I had done several bricks but for some reason my legs just wouldn't go. I've also heard of techniques at the end of the bike that begins to get your legs ready to run which I will try next time.
-I need to continue to focus on my diet and continue to drop some weight.
I'm really looking forward to my next race on sept 13th.
Thanks for listening if you made it this far!
I'm hooked!