The Pig Cometh! And Ice Baths!

The Flying Pig is in three days... which is kind of surprising. It really seems to have snuck up on me.
The weather forecast is overcast, with a high of around 58. Perfect running weather!
When I looked at my schedule for early next week, including race day, I saw that Mark had me down for an ice bath after the race. Not surprising really. Then I saw that I was scheduled for an ice bath on Monday too. And tuesday.
Seriously? Three days of ice baths? The ones on Monday and Tuesday are following short bike workouts to flush my system, but still, three?
I asked mark about it and he replied:
"The three days of ice is only a suggestion if your legs really feel pounded. I'd at the very least go for two. Then see how you feel on the third day."

I also had been thinking about pacing and asked him about that as well and his reply kind of surprised me a little.
Then as I was thinking about it all last night at bowling, mulling the race and my expectations over in my head I thought of something.
I've never needed three days of ice baths before. Not even after the 5430 did I feel the need for more than one ice bath. maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's a sign that my body recovers well (which i think it does).
Or, maybe I just didn't earn three days of ice baths before. Maybe I didn't push hard enough or challenge myself enough. I know I've challenged myself before with my first marathon and the 5430, but they were different kinds of challenges. In many cases, a race was about finishing something I had never done before (NYC or the 5430) or the experience (Bolder Boulder, WDW Goofy Challenge). When I took on mark, it was with the ultimate goal of doing an Ironman, but not just FINISHING an Ironman, racing one to the best of my ability.
That attitude is one I haven't had at a lot of races. That's changing now. I'm going to EARN three ice baths. I'm going to put every erg of energy I have into this race. I'm going to race smart and I'm going to race hard and I'm going to use every minute of this race as a lesson for my next race.
I'm going to kick some @$$