How do I handle large concrete pours and weather timing?

You have the finishing down. What is left is the part experience teaches slowest: reading conditions you cannot fully control. Big pours and weather are humbling for a reason. They punish guesswork, and no one gets them right by feel alone at first. The old hands are not smarter than you. They have simply watched more concrete go wrong and learned the warning signs. Heat, wind, and cold change your window, and a large pour gives you less room to recover. That is knowledge you gather by paying close attention every single time, not by talent. Start keeping a short log. After each pour, write the temperature, the wind, the mix, the timing, and what you would do differently. In a season you will have your own field guide, built from your own jobs. That is how the timing stops tripping you: not by hoping, but by remembering.