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Si 1−x Ge x films (x=0.22) epitaxially grown by ion beam-sputter deposition on (001) Si substrates were subjected to rapid and conventional thermal annealings at different temperatures. Strain measurements carried out by means of high-resolution x-ray diffraction exhibited strongly nonmonotonous strain dependencies on the annealing time. We observed short-time and long-time relaxation modes with activation energies of 4.6 and 1.3 eV, respectively, and unexpectedly, an additional mode of strain recovery at intermediate time durations with an activation energy of 1.6 eV. This behavior was attributed to processes that involve {113} two-dimensional defects, i.e., agglomerates of interstitials, which were identified by means of transmission electron microscopy.