One advice I can give you: never ever level in Sholazar Basin. The ONLY zones that should matter to you are those that give reputation to any of the major factions. This means you should ignore Sholazar Basin, Howling Fjord, and Grizzly Hills. If you're leveling there, you're basically just wasting your time because you will (most likely) go through these other zones anyway...
I can't remember the last time I leveled in Sholazar. I think it was retail or something like that when I was a complete noob and knew nothing about WotLK factions. Sholazar Basin is just a useless zone, that's all. The only two things it has are the Nesingwary achievement chain and the two minor factions which give trash rewards, unless you're masochistic and want the green proto-drake.
But then again, from your description you do sound a bit masochistic...
My leveling path on Icecrown is usually: Borean Tundra (into Coldarra ASAP), then Dragonblight (into the Wyrmrest Accord questline and the dragonshrines), then Zul'Drak (Argent Crusade + Knights of the Ebon Blade), then Icecrown (more Argent Crusade + Knights of the Ebon Blade). By that time, I will be 80lvl (even on x1) and be at least Revered (Honored on x1) with all of the major factions, bringing me to 2.9k GS as soon as I hit 80. A couple of cheap items from the AH and I can queue for RDF Hc after 1-2 hours of reaching 80lvl.
Meanwhile, the average noob would barely be 1.5k GS, begging people for FoS/PoS boosts, organizing ICC trash runs with reserved items, wasting time on Normals, and complaining how hard it is to gear up on Icecrown.