Proper recovery will make you faster.
Intervals tear down your muscles, literally ripping individual muscle cells apart, recovery allows them to heal, and they rebuild themselves stronger than they were before. The result is that it takes more exertion (faster more powerful intervals) to tear them down next time
Doing all the intervals in the world will only get you overtrained without recovery.
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2003 Iceman Challenge - 2:34:55 - 897 / 2,000*
2002 Iceman Challenge - 2:39:23 - 1093 / 2,186
2000 Iceman Challenge - 2:49:18 - 1516 / 2,153
*estimated