Training for hilly run courses

if you have any buildings around with a lot of stairs...that might help.

also stair stepper machines at the gym ?

x2. For focused hill training, you don't need hills, you need a hill. Stairs are a proxy for the types of hills you encounter on some extreme trail runs (hills too steep or technical for most of us to run up) but not so great for what you tend to encounter in tris or road races. For general hills, parking garages during early morning or off-peak hours tend to work great.