You can train and plan all you want but a plan only last till the first moment of execution then it starts slowly falling apart.
But any training that you do gives you an advantage.
Building muscle memory is the most important thing you can do.
What is muscle memory, I used to play hacky sack like five hours a day with my friends, then at work if I dropped a knife I would try and hack it. So the simple act of seeing the knife start to fall initiated the action of bringing my foot up to meet it.
But it also shows the bad thing about muscle memory it will happen before you can really think about it.
Get a partner start a martial art/boxing/self defense course, and practice with your partner as much as possible.