I have been watching some Youtube videos of swimming techniques and that really did help a lot. My biggest problem is living in the desert so swim training is limited. We have a public pool but it's only open in the summer months, so I started swimming last month and I'll swim until they shut it down next month. After that, if I want to swim, I'll have to drive into Vegas to a pool or out to Lake Mead.
I try to run once a week. I don't run any more than that because I don't want to beat up my joints any more. If my orthopedic doctor knew I was running at all, he'd have a fit. But I try not to run any less than that either. I have found, at least in my experience, you can't do any other exercise that is a comparable analog for actual running if the goal is to improve performance. I trained for months on an elliptical specifically to reduce joint damage. I was pretty quick, averaging a 7 minute/mile pace. But elliptical pace doesn't translate into real-world running pace.
One thing I did that I noticed an improvement was add in wind sprints. About once a month, I will do 100m dashes, 20-25 sprints. I only do it once a month because I am absolutely wrecked for 2-3 days after, but I know it's helped with my long distance as well. I guess that's the same idea you're suggesting on the bike. I'll give it a try.
I guess it's relative. Sometimes I win my age bracket, which is easy when I'm the only one in it. So then I have to compare to women that are either older or younger. Sometimes I win that comparison, most of the time not. But there's also the variable of the other athletes. For some of these women, it's their first, for others, they've been doing triathlons for decades. I've been faster than 30 year old women and slower than 60 year old women. It all depends. Depends on everybody's individual condition. It depends on how strong they are in the various events. It depends on training, form, preparation, equipment. So many variables. This last tri was the biggest field I've seen, over 700 participants. There were almost 30 women in my age group alone. I was in the 3rd quarter of the bracket. Even the 3rd place finisher finished almost 30 minutes before I did. But I was almost 30 minutes faster than the slowest finisher in our bracket. So that can be a tricky metric to use.

I started this post to get an idea of my ride. I'm happy to talk about the swim and the run, but that really wasn't the focus of this thread. I know the swim is my weakest event. I've done better in the run in other events. Not sure why I was so wiped out this time. Could have been due to traveling. Could have been lack of rest. Could have been any number of factors. I'm not saying I don't appreciate helpful suggestions, but this particular triathlon at this pace is not a fair comparison. I did an Olympic in April where I averaged a 9:30 over the six miles compared to the 10 minute pace I averaged here.