Usually I follow that advice, I just replace an interval workout with a time trial maybe once every month or two as a progress check. That 24:30 result was meant to be a 4M tempo run but when I was at the 2M mark I realized I was on pace for a personal best 5K and kind of just went for it.
Yeah, I need to work on pacing. 
I try to follow this pattern:
Saturday long run
Monday speed workout
Tuesday 4-6 mile easy run
Wednesday hill workout
Friday short easy run with 3 60 second race pace intervals around midpoint
Just all these obstacle course races and obstacle course training sessions I signed up for tend to fall on the weekend then I try to shove the long run in somewhere else in the week.