Trying to improve MTT play

Ok, so I have been having a fair amount of success playing cash games since the new year. Nothing spectacular but I have been steadily improving my bankroll.
The last couple of weeks I have been trying to improve my MTT play and have been playing at least 1-2 a day. So far it has been a total waste of @#$%&* time. I am getting frustrated like you wouldn't believe.
I have been trying to use the basic TAG approach, in that while the blinds are small I play very tight and only play big hands. This may be a good way to go about the early stages of a MTT, but for me it seems to often that the big hands just don't come. So I usually end up after the first break, with a stack around where I started with, and the blinds right up my ass. Less than 10 big blinds is pretty much just shove or fold. And without fail when I do this, I always lose. I played 3 MTT's on Party Poker today and the following happened:

Tournamnet 1: I played 2 hands before the first break, both were limp ins on low PP's that didn't hit a set so that didn't get me anywhere. I saw a few more flops when in the BB but that didn't lead anywhere either. So after the break I had a stack of about 2000 with the blinds at 150/300, managed to draw 9,9 and shoved someone had A,A I didn't improve.

Tournament 2: I played a few more hands in this one, though nothing spectacular. I won a couple of small pots one with A,10 and one with K,J. Not exactly powerhouse hands, but I'll take what I can get. After the first break I had a stack of about 3100, after a couple of orbits of folding garbage hands and the blinds on the verge of rising again I got K,Qs on the button. It was limped to me so I shoved and one of the limpers behind me called with 8,8 and I did not improve.

Tournament 3: I shouldn't have played this one at all, as I was frustrated from the last two, but I played anyway. First hour I decided to lossen up a little and see more flops, which ultimately lead to me throwing away more chips, I did however manage to win a big hand by maknig a set of 5's over someones TPTK. So I went into the break at about 3500 chips. Not great, but better than I had done all day. Again the blinds caught up to me, after a few orbits the blinds went up again to 200/400 and I had 2500 chips left and I get A,Qo UTG , throw my chips in and lose to someones A,10 (board was 10,10,3 )

Anyway, basically I need new ideas or something else to try, because what I am doing isn't working. The TAG approach has been working good for me as far as cash games go, but the blinds don't go up there. I'm going to go look through my hand histories frmo these three tournies and see if I find any glaring errors.

Anyone have any suggestions?

While the blinds are small is the only time in the tourney that you are going to able to speculate on a few hands with a broader range and not have it be a tournament defining issue.

In the first hour you can take a series of small risks in order to avoid taking some really big ones later (like the 99 v AA).

This is not to suggest for a second that you should be playing weak aces or calling raises with marginal hands, but you can and should be looking to maximise the use of position to get in pots cheaply (and to win them after the flop even when you miss). You should be prepared to get your entire stack in with TPTK against weak players and you should be prepared to chase draws when the implied odds allow.

I am absolutely not suggesting becoming a maniac but there are lots of chances to play low risk pots in the first hour of a tournament without compromising your play.

I'll maybe post some more later but generally I think that the play in the first hour of a tourney is critical in making not just the money but final tables.