Dorothy Beal on Training Runs

I've alluded to Dorothy Beal previously, she of three children, seemingly unfailing sunny disposition, and pixie figure. While I feel we are worlds apart with our running, I found this nugget on her site today:

Tip: It is very important that if one of your goals is to get faster that you do not do all of your runs in your 'comfort zone'

This zone is usually too slow for your fast workouts and too fast for your slow workouts. If you want to improve each training cycle and get faster, than you need to make sure that your slow workouts are slow and your fast workouts are fast. This allows your body to make the appropriate training adaptations that are supposed to happen over the course of a training cycle.

It takes patience and courage to be a runner.

Have the courage, to have the patience to run the appropriate pace, even if that pace at times may feel painfully slow/insanely fast to you.