diff --git a/scripts/spartan/Worker.py b/scripts/spartan/Worker.py
index 898698f..10a9ea6 100644
--- a/scripts/spartan/Worker.py
+++ b/scripts/spartan/Worker.py
@@ -277,6 +277,21 @@ class Worker:
         eta = None
 
         try:
+            # if state is already WORKING then weights may be loading on worker
+            # prevents issue where model override loads a large model and consecutive requests timeout
+            max_wait = 30
+            waited = 0
+            while self.state == State.WORKING:
+                if waited >= max_wait:
+                    break
+
+                time.sleep(1)
+                waited += 1
+            if waited != 0:
+                logger.debug(f"waited {waited}s for worker '{self.label}' to IDLE before consecutive request")
+                if waited >= (0.85 * max_wait):
+                    logger.warning("this seems long, so if you see this message often, consider reporting an issue")
+
             self.state = State.WORKING
 
             # query memory available on worker and store for future reference
@@ -304,8 +319,6 @@ class Worker:
 
             if sync_options is True:
                 self.load_options(model=option_payload['sd_model_checkpoint'], vae=option_payload['sd_vae'])
-                # TODO api returns 200 even if it fails to successfully set the checkpoint so we will have to make a
-                #  second GET to see if everything loaded...
 
             if self.benchmarked:
                 eta = self.batch_eta(payload=payload) * payload['n_iter']
@@ -535,7 +548,7 @@ class Worker:
             ipm_sum += ipm_result
         avg_ipm_result = ipm_sum / samples
 
-        logger.debug(f"Worker '{self.label}' average ipm: {avg_ipm_result}")
+        logger.debug(f"Worker '{self.label}' average ipm: {avg_ipm_result:.2f}")
         self.avg_ipm = avg_ipm_result
         self.response = None
         self.benchmarked = True
@@ -632,14 +645,19 @@ class Worker:
         if vae is not None:
             payload['sd_vae'] = vae
 
+        self.state = State.WORKING
+        start = time.time()
         response = self.session.post(
             self.full_url("options"),
             json=payload
         )
+        elapsed = time.time() - start
+        self.state = State.IDLE
 
         if response.status_code != 200:
             logger.debug(f"failed to load options for worker '{self.label}'")
         else:
+            logger.debug(f"worker '{self.label}' loaded weights in {elapsed:.2f}s")
             self.loaded_model = model_name
             if vae is not None:
                 self.loaded_vae = vae