Phil's Journal: Productive Trip to Santa Barbara

Sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was able to scoot out to Santa Barbara, CA for a few days to meet up with several of my fellow colleagues to talk shop. Visits included three of my Tough Love Nutrition Advisors: Marcus Elliott, M.D., Mikki Reilly (both pictured with me above) and Simon Goode.

You can see Marcus's credentials in an earlier TLN post, but for now I can say that this very well-respected sports performance and conditioning expert is in high-demand these days. Walking into his new Peak Performance Project (P3) training facility was a virtual who's who of new Major League Baseball talent, top high school athletes and professional cyclists.

Mikki, of course, is a regular contributor to TLN. Her strength and fitness expertise is well-represented in a variety of topics on TLN, and especially her site FitnessTransform.com. I recommend giving all of her articles a serious gander.

Simon is the VP of Marketing for New Sun Nutrition. An old buddy from Balance Bar days, Simon's knowledge of the nutrition industry and its unyielding barrage of marketing trends is tremendous. He's an invaluable resource and sounding board for me as I continue to spread the benefits of Tough Love Nutrition to the masses. I am a big fan of New Sun's flagship product FRS Healthy Energy Drink. You'll be seeing more on this as well at Tough Love Nutrition.

Being the poster boy for TLN, how did I do eating and exercise-wise on this whirlwind trip? Quite well. Even with an unexpected extra day tacked on in Chicago due to air traffic control issues, I was able to eat very well through a combination of smart on-the-road meal choices and stash of nutrition bars and meal replacement shake packets. For the three non-travel days in Santa Barbara, I was able to knock out two decent workouts as well (if you are ever in Santa Barbara, I recommend the gym, Key2Fitness). The only thing that caught up to me after I got home was lack of sleep. After running around for a week and then getting back and trying to play catch up at the office, I hit the wall hard! Let's just say it took a couple good nights of sleep to get back into full swing!

Until next time...Be Healthy!