I know we are all thinking weight room stuff here, but isn't the military big into making guys run? If that's part of your husband's routine I can see where there is trouble.

Sadly I find Paleo to be a tough lifestyle if you are expected to put in a lot of endurance. Double headers of indoor ultimate frisbee (almost 2 hours of sprinting back and forth) kill me and require a few days of taking it easy. Mark from Primal Blueprint had it right when he put adequate rest in as part of an optimal paleo lifestyle. If the workout routines aren't gonna change, adjustments to get more rest are probably in order. Earlier bed time to increase his resting time would probably help.

If he's doing lots of running (which I think is probably the main problem) add some tropical fruit to his daily intake before that work out--I am thinking banana. I dont think bananas are great for my daily lifestyle which involves long hikes, resting and a couple tough weight training sessions a week, but for someone who is running 4 miles a day, I'd say that person might need that kind of fuel. I think its also probably a matter of muscle adaptation and eventually he will be surpass his competitors.

If he wants to improve recovery then it'll simply be a matter of eating more protein or more carbs. One would assume, eating paleo, that it's more likely that he's eating adequate protein and inadequate carbs, so that's the logical adjustment to make.

It will also be beneficial if he eats the carbs/protein relatively close to the end of the workout (we're talking a matter of hours here, not minutes as is regularly assumed), since his muscles will be relatively more insulin responsive. From what I've been reading there may be something of a threshold effect, whereby minimal carbs will be channelled away from muscle tissue to the brain, but given plenty of carbs (and thus temporarily heightened blood glucose) glucose will be used to refuel the muscles.

Providing he's eating adequate protein (1.2-1.7g/kg), then I'd advise adding more carbohydrate rather than protein. Eating more protein above and beyond that required to optimise nitrogen balance won't bring any further than carbs and will be substantially more physiologically stressful (e.g. on kidneys, liver, glycation etc). The glucagon response will only work against his aims, by offsetting the insulin that is signalling for fuel uptake by his peripheral tissue (in this case, muscles), forcing tissue breakdown and energy into his bloodstream. Adding carbohydrate, conversely, will replenish glycogen and keep amino acids in the tissue rather than allowing them to be broken down, via the effects of insulin and also via reducing the body's need for gluconeogenesis. At a macro level (and there may be nothing in this other than what I've already said) it also makes paleo sense that the presence of carbs, denoting plenty and 'feasting' would encourage growth and recovery of muscle.

One thing to be said for 'freshly killed' meat is that it will contain a lot more creatine (before being thoroughly cooked), which is integral to growth, recovery and performance. If he's not a fan of rare meat then he could consider creatine replacements.

Eating protein before or during workouts has been shown to be fruitless for performance.

I wouldn't say that there's any benefit to having a protein shake rather than meat. The food will be more nutritious, which can only help recovery. There's a good window of time in order to benefit from improved muscle insulin responsiveness, so ingesting protein within minutes simply isn't necessary, although admittedly having it quicker will only help. It also depends on what sort of protein shake you were to use anyway: casein will be broken down very slowly anyway (and I doubt it's goat/beta-casein!) whereas whey may be more beneficial for recovery and growth, precisely because it is so insulinemic and easily digested.

Also make sure he's getting his cholesterol!

Our Ancestors didn't work out. They eat when food was plenty and fasted when none was around. One of the things I had a problem believing is that everyone is different. Paleo is not Low Carb. I am Low carb for diabetes. I'd add a few more carbs BEFORE a workout. Carbs won't help recovery- that is protein and to a lesser degree fat but some carbs will provide some energy for that up coming workout. Adjust the program, add a day's rest, what ever

A few questions to consider:

How long has he been eating paleo? How much carbs is he getting? How much fat is he eating? Has he changed the intensity/duration of his workouts? There really isn't enough info in your post to answer the question accurately.

If he is eating low-carb paleo and is feeling a lack of energy, it does take the body a few weeks to adapt. Especially if his diet was high carb before.

Check out Robb Wolf's first podcast, it's entirely about post workout nutrition: http://robbwolf.com/2009/11/10/podcast-2/. Here's another one of his posts about post-workout nutrition: http://robbwolf.com/2009/07/01/post-workout-nutrition-high-or-low-carb/.