Tim Clarke Takes On 70.3 Rhode Island 1/2 Ironman

Imagine swimming for 1.2 miles, getting on your bike and riding 56 miles, and then running 13.1 (a half-marathon) miles. Think about that for a moment. Well, Wicked brother Tim Clarke did just that yesterday at the 70.3 Rhode Island ½ Ironman! It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze, not too hot, and plenty of shade. The race began with a 1.2 mile swim in Narragansett. Despite feeling somewhat under trained for this portion of the race, Tim swam comfortably and was eager to tackle the 56 mile bike ride. A unique characteristic of this particular ½ Ironman is that it is a “point to point” race, and from Narragansett, the bike ride headed to Providence. According to Tim, the bike ride felt pretty decent. Along the way Tim kept thinking that he needed to be careful not to get a penalty for drafting (being within 4 bike lengths of the bike in front of you). It was that final 13.1 mile run where Tim says, “The day fell apart for me. You get off the bike, your legs are tight, and the game plan is to keep them moving and get them loosened up.” Well, we can’t always follow “the game plan,” and placing “this hill at about ½ mile into the race that looked like it came out of the Mt. Washington run, and because the run was two loops, we had to do it twice!” was indeed cruel punishment. “Most of the run was a real struggle for me, and the irony of it is I felt most comfortable with my running preparation going into the race.” Tim reached the State Capitol in Providence in a time of 6:22:18. What an amazing accomplishment, Tim! And what, besides a tremendous sense of pride, satisfaction, and determination to get out there and run better the next time, did Tim get for all this hard labor? “They give you a finishing medal and a really nice hat at the end!” Tim reports he’s “a little sore” today, but he did dutifully report to work.

What brought Tim to this point in his running career? Tim has now completed his fourth ½ Ironman, having competed in them the previous three years. He also completed the Boston Marathon in 2006. All of this started five years ago when Tim decided he wanted to compete in a triathlon and enrolled in the B and S Fitness Triathlon Training Program to prepare him for the Witch City Triathlon. What motivates Tim? “The training for my first triathlon was so positive, and I had always wanted to have an ongoing exercise program that I have been afraid to stop. So ‘fear’ motivates me! Along the way I have met a lot of great people through training and races.” For those of us who know Tim, he is very self-effacing and not one to “toot his own horn.” Asked about a sense of pride with this accomplishment, Tim says, “The race for me is half of it. Having a race in front of me pushes me in my training. I was hoping to hit 5:45 for a finish time, and I did fall short of that. I did end up placing 911 out of 1600 plus people, and I would call it a better than average field in a more challenging than average course.” And what kind of training does one need to do to prepare for an event like this? For Tim, “Plan ‘A’ is about 13 hours per week consisting of one swim, three bike rides including one long one, and three runs including one long one. Also included are two sessions of weight training.” Tim reports he usually misses one or two workouts, “So it runs from 10-13 hours per week. I cut this in half in the off season.”

Congratulations, Tim, on this newest “feather in your Wicked cap.” You are an inspiration to all of us and a fine example of how determination can propel the human body to excel at levels we never thought possible. Go Wicked!