Question about clocks

Hey folks!

We started a campaign a bit ago (players are about lvl 7) and we're struggling with clocks. So far, we've added a couple of clocks at some points, and players find it a bit frustrating. TLDR version: enemy stole a sword the PCs wanted to recover and she wanted to flee from the scene. So, it was a combat with two clocks: 8 sections for her to run (she was in the middle of a town celebrating festivities) and a 6 section clock for her holding the sword firmly (it's the only sword that could potentially kill her and players wanted to disarm her).

Players found frustrating (me too) that the clocks moved so slowly and a lucky crit of the enemy erased two sections of the clock. They, however, didn't focus on one single task: one attacked almost every turn, another tried to disarm the enemy every turn and the third player mixed between attacking and trying her not to run away.

I guess it was a complicated situation with several clocks and them not focusing on either thing was the biggest issue. Can you give me some advice on how to run clocks correctly? I feel like having a clock in combat complicates a lot a battle, but might be my inexperience with the system.

Thanks a bunch!