diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 73a659e1f..f8931b2f1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ludeeus/action-shellcheck@master
 
   test:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-m
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [setup, lint]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ jobs:
         path: |
           .venv
         key: ci-venv-${{ env.PIPELINE_FAMILY }}-${{ hashFiles('requirements/test.txt') }}
+
+    - name: Set up Python ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
     - name: Run core tests
       run: |
         python${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }} -m venv .venv
@@ -98,16 +103,21 @@ jobs:
   # TODO - figure out best practice for caching docker images
   # (Using the virtualenv to get pytest)
   test_dockerfile:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-m
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [setup, lint]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
     - uses: actions/cache@v4
       id: virtualenv-cache
       with:
+        python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
         path: |
           .venv
         key: ci-venv-${{ env.PIPELINE_FAMILY }}-${{ hashFiles('requirements/test.txt') }}
+    - name: Set up Python ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
     - name: Test Dockerfile
       run: |
         python${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }} -m venv .venv
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
index 6d54bbecc..5f0f38c6a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
         #arch: ["arm64", "amd64"]
         # NOTE(luke): temporary disable arm64 since its failing the smoke test
         arch: ["amd64"]
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-m
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [setup, set-short-sha]
     env:
       SHORT_SHA: ${{ needs.set-short-sha.outputs.short_sha }}
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ jobs:
         # write to the build repository to cache for the publish-images job
         docker push $DOCKER_BUILD_REPOSITORY:${{ matrix.arch }}-$SHORT_SHA
   publish-images:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-m
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [setup, set-short-sha, build-images]
     env:
       SHORT_SHA: ${{ needs.set-short-sha.outputs.short_sha }}