Sorry for the cliffhanger...
As stated in my original post, I've been increasing the volume and intensity of my lifting by including 3 OLY (Snatch / Clean & Jerk) sessions a week on top of my increasing volume of strength and accessory work. I've also been adding in more timed work such as EMOMs and AMRAPs. My supplementation is pretty basic with a protein powder, creatine, glutamine, and beta alanine for performance; Multi-vitamin and D3 for general health, and a fish oil (3 grams per day) for recovery. For this test, I cut out the fish oil.
I'm usually a non-responder to supplements, or at least I don't tend to feel the effects (I can drink coffee right before bed and sleep fine), so I usually only trust and believe in supplements that have extensive testing behind them...hence the basic list above. I still haven't had the time to research what exactly is in Mtn. Ops Phenix and what kind of studies have been conducted on the ingredients, but whatever it is, it seems to work.
The baseline that I had going into this test was from about a week before Robbie anounced that we would be testing Phenix, when I forgot to take my fish oil for most of that week, while not missing a training day. I always took fish oil because I knew it was good for me and seemed to work well in the recovery department, but never really paid attention to how I felt when I was off of it. Well, that week, about half way through after forgetting to take it, I definitely felt a decrease in motivation, energy, and recovery from day to day, even though my sleep was pretty decent (about 7-8 hours per night).
After concluding this test, I would have to say that Phenix works very well at what it says it's supposed to do: Post Workout Recovery. As you can see in my logs throughout the test, even with some wacky sleep cycles thanks to the new baby, I never felt like I was behind the curve on recovery. Very rarely did I have any muscle soreness, and if I did, it was early in the morning and wore off within an hour or so as I got moving. I still think that sleep and diet are the biggest factors in recovery, but as a supplement goes, I believe that Phenix works as good or better than fish oils. With the remainder of the bottle (and after buying more), I will do some additional long term testing as compared to fish oils for not only recovery, but intestinal health (Phenix claims to support the immune system and "Promotes a balanced intestinal mucosa"), which is of particular interest to me. If this can work as good or better in both areas that I'm interested in, then I would absolutely consider this a viable alternative to fish oils.
Thanks again to Robbie and Mtn Ops for allowing me to be one of the testers!