You REALLY want to do this? Well...
A year before a duel. Let's imagine for just a moment that some kind of honor was at stake where you couldn't just snuff out the competition right there or sneak up on him or her before the duel. Let's also imagine that there are no spectators, press, police or any other distractions. Also, let's eliminate any advantage of environment and just rely on relatively equal skill for the time being. NOW here's what I'd do with my year:
Every day for at least an hour, pray and meditate. Have a clear mind and LEARN HOW TO CLEAR THE MIND UNDER STRESS.
Every day for at least an hour, aerobic exercise of some type - need to get the pulse down under physical stress.
Every other day, 1000 draws, 1000 cuts, 1000 blocks/parries and 1000 resheathings WITH A SHINKEN. Burn them into your muscle memory. Do them outside in the sun, in the rain, snow, whatever, ignoring weather and light. Do them in complete darkness, ignoring sight. Do them in the dark with cotton in your ears and up your nose, depriving yourself of outside stimuli <sp>. Train the mind and body for the task as hand.
Every night, play with your children, love/honor your spouse... in other words, make every night for the rest of your life something shared with family. Whether you survive or not, a part of you will die while if you survive, you will be reborn in a sense.
Don't bother sparring, practicing any kendo or any other thing besides the above training... it's all gonna come down to intent, reaction time and muscle memory anyway. Don't neglect your responsibilities, because heck... you may win and now you have to face the creditors since you didn't pay your bills for a year.
If you've spent a year waiting to die, you will. If you've spent a year training to live, you'll most likely live. If you've spent a year actually LIVING while you trained to be the one left standing, odds are you will make it.
FWIW,
Carlos
E. Carlos Estrella, Jr.
The strength of a man is not measured in how much he can lift, how many he can fight or how much he can endure, but in his capacity to admit his limitations and learn to successfully circumvent them.