Am I wasting my time (Page 2)

For the record, that was our FIRST triathlon, and it's been a different story ever since. Haha.

Of course, quality time, T.I.T.S., etc.  That's all true.  That said...

I rode with a weaker riding buddy for the majority of my training one summer and I did noticeably backslide in my own ability.  It was frustrating, but by the time I realized it was too late.  I did some training alone, but the quality rides were done with her.

I really like the idea of adding weight.

I would keep rides with her as your base miles, but quality workouts may need to be done alone.  Or, if you both have quality workouts, do them together but separate.   Ride out to a hill then do repeats on your own time, you can cheer each other on and wave as you pass. 

Good for your marriage to ride together.

When my husband started riding, he was slower than I was. I would ride with him, go off front do intervals and double back. So we'd do warm up and cool down together.

Hill repeats are good idea as Emily suggested.

I was training for IM so often I would do a 1-2 hour ride with him, then go ride few hours more. Or he'd met me part way into the ride.

If you are only riding with her, your cycling will likely get worse. If you do other rides minimum of 2x  week, you can have those be your more intense rides.

I had a coach who had me do a lot of low effort rides per his philosophy (coach not on BT) and that year I did many long rides in the HR of 105-115 and guess what my cycling got worse.