I am looking for something in excel that would add up training hours (a) in planning stage and (b) as a log-book.

Do a google search for the tri geek spreadsheet. Keeps track of everything you mention. Haven't printed though ...

pm me your email. i'll send you the excel log i put together. I think it is more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly than the freeware i have seen on the web, but logging seems to be a personal thing...

Well, to get minutes per mile you just divide the time by the mileage. Use "=A1/A2" if your time is in cell A1 and your mileage is in A2. The only trick is in formatting the cells so that Excel will display them reasonably. What I do is make sure to enter the hours, even if they're zero. So a 45-minute run would be 0:45:00. Otherwise it tends to interpret "45:00" as 45 h 00 min. Then just make sure the cell is formatted the way you like. You can use [mm]:ss under Custom formats if you don't like any of the prebuilt Time formats.

this is kind of like the excel file i have, PM me your email and i'll share it with you. it is also available on the web somewhere but i can't seem to find it now.

PM me with your email and I'll send a copy of the excel log I wrote. It tracks daily training, weight, sleep, shoe mileage, etc. (but no resting HR (yet)). It also has sheets to plan your training for the year and print it out on a weekly basis. I find it easier to use than any of the commerically available ones, but it may just be because I wrote it. It's free for anyone who wants it.

J