We live in High Springs Florida and we have the same problem preparing for our AT section hikes every year. We live close to Gainesville, so we go to the sinkhole at Devil’s Millhopper State Park and walk the stairs 4 times a week. There is a wooden staircase that has 235 steps to the bottom of the sinkhole, so we walk down and up 6-10 times (round trip) which works out to 3000-5000 steps per day or 12000-20000 steps per week. We alternate with doing the stairs with our loaded packs on one day and no pack the next day. We also occassionally walk the 8 mile San Felasco Hammock trail with our packs just to do some trail walking. We’ve noticed a big improvement in our hikes because of this. So, go find some STAIRS to walk and do it alot. I’m not sure where you live, but there must be a football stadium (High School, College) that you can go to and walk the stairs.
Good luck and if you find something, stick with it.
MJ