You will need to pull the gear out (or at least up) as the gear on the back of the cam are engaged to it. This is down by sticking a tool (Ive used large flat bladed screw drivers) and rotating the gear counter clockwise. It will walk up and away from the cam. Do this after you remove the intake so that you can reach in and grab it.
Prior to removing the gear (if all of your timing marks are aligned and you are at TDC), take note of where the slot is pointed before removing the gear (take a picture), then when it comes time to reinstall it, you drop it in and then by rotating it CCW so it comes out of the cam, you can rotate it a tooth at a time to get the slot where you need it. Because the gears are helical, it is difficult to "eyeball" it to get it to drop in the right spot initially, typically you need to move it a few times to get what you need.
I have seen guys make marks inside the block indicating exactly where the slot is, I once saw a guy make a jig of sorts that went into the slot in the gear and pointed to a mark of feature in the block indicating that the slot was perfectly aligned to what he took out.
All that said, it isn't critical that you are "exactly" in the same spot as you can rotate the distributor to align the rotor with the #1 terminal. You will need to time it anyway, you just need it close so it will fire.
