Attack by retreating!

The following position is from one of my games in a server-based US Chess Federation correspondence tournament ...

What's a reasonable move for Black? 

 Actually several different moves here are good enough for equality. 

For instance either 1 ... h6  or  1 ... Rc1 are both o.k. for Black.

However if Black captures the 'free' pawn then he loses

immediately!  Do you see how?

That's right! 1 ... Rxa4?? is punished by a piece which attacks by

 retreating! Retrograde attacks are sometimes even missed by much

 stronger players but like most tactics they are easier to see from the

 attacking side than from the defensive side.

Question: How do you improve your odds of seeing moves like

 this from both the attacking side and the defensive side?