Tough start, good time

Captex oly 2:42:03. My first and only other oly was last fall 2:56.
I picked up 3min on the swim, 7min on the bike, 1 min on the run and 3min in transition. On pretty much the same course.

As I was setting up transition, we got the word that wetsuits were not legal. The water was 81 degrees...
Big bummer.
The swim was tough from start to finish. My hr spiked before the gun went off and it never came down. I had trouble breathing which meant I couldn't swim straight. Which got me more winded. Vicious cycle. Lots of contact for the first 1/2. Most of any race I have done. Lots of breast stroke.
Just felt bad. Really surprised that I only dropped 2 min on my 1500m pool time.
Both transitions were fine. Nothing noteworthy.
I hit the bike pretty hard. At the start my hr was a little over 160. At the end it was about 150. First loop was my slowest. Total for 25mi 1:13. This was the most fun part of the race.
The run started good but my hr got away from me. 10k 49:55. 2 5k laps. Second lap was slower as the heat and my hr got out of control. I would like to criticize my execution on the run but the truth is this is only 1min off my stand alone 10k pr. So I can't argue with the results.
I think the key to getting into the 2:30's on this race will be to tighten up the swim by a couple of minutes and run a bit smoother in terms of pace.

Today is a swim day. I am going to do the workout and see how it goes.