I live in the middle of nowhere and am having a hard time finding a swim coach. I started triathlon training in November coming from running. My running is still solid and I am making good gains with biking. My swimming however stinks and I am really frustrated with it. I swam 700y today in a time trial in 7:30. I know I have several form issues but am not sure how to fix them. I am willing to buy an under water camera and send the video to someone but am not sure how much coaching can be done from a video. Is on deck coaching necessary or should I try online?
Really? 700y in 7:30 is pretty darn quick. Typo or troll? 
Online could work but if at all possible, get a someone who knows what they’re talking about on deck.
You could, with your new camera, take a lot of footage and self-analyse or post a ‘Critique my swim’ video on here or the SS Forum. Sometimes it just takes another set of eyes to pin-point what to work on, and how.
?? I seriously wouldn’t consider that stinking.
400 yards at around 1:45 pace. I guess I know I need some assistance with form yet and cannot find anyone nearby to help me. My goal is to swim an olympic in under 23 minutes so I am a ways off right now.
Ignoring the speed question - it is done.
There are coaches, and even people on these forums, who will give you advice on your swimming style from video.
I believe that Total Immersion and/or Swim Smooth have some online coaches listed, or so I’ve heard.
For finding a local coach:
Masters Program? You might check USMS web site. http://www.usms.org/Is there a college with a swim team around? You might get a coach, or student, from that group to help you.
I checked into the nearest ymca at 70 miles away. only masters classes are 5:30 pm 2 nights a week and no chance I can make that. I am planning on purchasing an enless pool to help with more time in the water so I think that will help. I have seen several online coaches that advertise swim analysis and am thinking about using that. I guess my original question was more of how much a difference on deck coaching makes vs just watching a video. thx
In theory a masters coach can give you live feedback, and a one on one coach will. An online coach will give feedback between workouts only.
In reality a masters coach might not see everything you do wrong.
Also an online, underwater camera coach might have a better angle at times and more of a incentive to provide usefull feedback each session.
But these are just random thoughts - no experience with online swim coaching.
Marath8,
I do online coaching for swimming. You can check out a couple of the video analysis’s I’ve done with folks I’m working with here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I have coached swimming for the past 20 years and I competed at the national level and swam at a top ranked college program. My masters team is made up of mostly triathletes. We focus on distance/open water swimming.
Obviously, the best situation is you would swim with a masters swim team with an experienced coach on deck that would give you quality feedback. A distant second would be having an online coach write your workouts, analyze video of you swimming, etc.
Best regards,
Tim Floyd
Magnolia Masters