Hills are speedwork in disguise.
You don't run 26 miles at five minutes a mile on good looks and a secret recipe.
Intervals and other types of speed work are essential to improve running speed.
Being in school is the best place to be if you are an athlete because you can structure your own time.
To put it another way, Michael Jordan was a gym rat.
The potential elite runner must realize that hard means hard, easy means easy and they must patiently seek out what combinations work for them. They have to learn to be persistent and patient with their training and racing.