Difference in Musculature and Energy Systems

While training a baseball team recently, we were testing them on their verticals and broad jumps (standing long jumps). During the testing, they were all excited and wanted to see where one of our coaches and myself could jump to in both events. I told them that i would once they were finished and so did Scott Cook, who is one of our great coaches. To my disappointment, I only jumped a 32 in my vertical, and 8 ft 10 in in my broad jump. The reason this disappoints me is because when I tried out for the NFL, I jumped a 36 in the vertical and a 9ft 8in in the broad jump. However, I know that the training that I have been doing for triathlons for over a year now which is endurance based, is not conducive to sprinting (ie running a faster 40yd or 60yd dash, jumping higher, and overall being more explosive in general) but is all about the pace. The training I have been doing is working my aerobic system, thus training the type I (slow twitch) musculature of the body. I do still do sprints, jumps, etc., but I am doing more endurance training so I am now starting to see the effects of this training on my other explosive movements where my anaerobic system, type IIa and IIx (fast twitch muscle fibers) are being affected. I never thought I would ever run a half marathon, do triathlons, or bike 150 miles for that matter, but i am enjoying it thoroughly. The reason is because it is a big challenge for me because my entire life I have been an anaerobic athlete and have never asked this much of, or have I placed this much demand on, my aerobic system. I am going to finish off this half Ironman in New Orleans in April 2009 very strong, continuing to work my aerobic system more, then I am going to train my anaerobic system more and get back to heavier lifting like I used to. I am a firm believer in variation, and need to get more anaerobic training back into my life. I am still going to do triathlons though, but not do as much crazy training for them as I have been over the past year. I needed to build a solid aerobic base and foundation, and now that I have done that, the sprint triathlons will not be as hard to train for. Whatever your goals, continue to push forward with everything you have and you will not disappoint yourself!