I switched from a Vision R-54 to a Catrike Road before last spring, and felt like I lost speed.    I spent most of last season feeling like I had dropped from about 13mph on the Vision to 11.5mph on the Catrike.   They are both recumbent.   The Vision is probably heavier.   The Vision is full suspension where catrike is soft-tail.   I figured by the end of the season I would make it back, but didn't.
 
So this year I was scrutinizing for what things I might change.    I noticed the drive side of the chain path has two idlers in it and each of the idlers has a retainer bar to prevent the chain from coming off.   Both of those were dragging the when I inspected at the beginning of this year.    One was deflecting the chain and appeared bent from the drag on it.    I moved both of those so they didn't contact the chain but didn't feel like any major improvement.   Unclear how long it had been in that state anyway.
 
I had been riding comfortably at about 100 rpm but with my butt perhaps 1/2 inch forward of the "V" of the seat.   I tried adjusting the boom length in by about that 1/2 inch last week.   My overall speed didn't increase,  and my typical cadence dropped to 90.   I felt like I had a bit more torque on some of the hills, and legs were perhaps more sore than normal.   Guess time will tell if confirmation bias is the only thing making me think I made an improvement or if I actually made a change that will help after I adapt to it a bit longer.
 

On my 700 there were a couple of pretty major speed increases ..  Changing the bearings out in the front wheels with some hybrid ceramics ..  (I noticed that catrike is now selling the same ones I sent them samples of on their web page)    That probably helped the most ..  I also replaced the idlers entirely with TerraCycle elites ..   That probably helped a tiny bit physically and a lot mentally as they "sounded" proper .  The fairing I added didn't do much for the speed - except downhill, but it did keep a lot of crap off me from the road.      
 
Tires also play a big part of things here ..  Look at Maxxis Overdrives or Continental contact ones; both of those seem to have the lowest rolling resistance ..  
 
 
Vision R54s were coming in between 29 (no suspension) and 35 (suspension) pounds, a road weighs 37-38 pounds .  This is before you junk them up like me with spares, parts, tools, tig welders, etc .
 
 
The biggest problem you'll have is 20" wheels and chipseal ..  nothing suck your energy away faster ..    You have only one of those on your R54  
 
 

Its a energy to weight problem ..   You need to work on a plan for that --  I have to admit this is a bit of a touchy point with myself as I fought this battle with a cycling coach  for a few years ..  I was 220 and 9% BMI ..  There's no way that was healthy ..  but he kept saying "you need to loose weight!!"   It caused  all sorts of health issues .   At 9% BMI noone needs to loose weight -  I finally got wise and changed coaches ..  
 
I'm 250 pounds  @18% BMI   and I can run a ~60 pound velomobile  up a hill faster than most of the kids can ride their stick bikes in the same place ..    We have to make our bodies generate the energy we need to accomplish these things and that takes a pretty consistent and serious commitment to exercise improvement.    Also a lot of frustration and aches and pain  which I am sure we all share with this.    
 
Getting old does suck though .. I would recommend avoiding it.
 
 
Quote from Dennis on Mar 11^th, 2016, 3:51am:

I like where you went with adjusting the boom, but I would have gone the other way. You can generate more force near full extension, as you may have noticed trying to lift a really heavy set of weights off of your chest. Gee, it seemed so light when your arms were almost straight!!! I have found that when I extend, my cadence drops initially. It's easier to spin at a higher cadence when the legs are bent a bit more. Keep working on your cadence at the new length. It will become natural and you will have the best of both worlds--greater force and greater RPMs.