There's no way around it. Those of us who are now in the geriatric club just have to plod along the best we can. In my 30's it took 2 weeks to become a lean, mean hiking machine. In my 60's it's more like 4 weeks. At which point I start to think maybe I've had enough and it's time to go home.
There's another potential issue and that is illness. It's pretty easy to pick up something while traveling in the early spring while mingling with lots of strangers.
Starting out with a bit of a cough can blossom into a serious chest cold pretty quickly. That's what happened to me last time I went to Springer in the spring. It was a week of cold rain, which made what ever I picked up hit me big time. I'll spare you the details, but I had to call it quits at Hiawassee.