diff --git a/src/instructlab/training/main_ds.py b/src/instructlab/training/main_ds.py
index 4ea8787a..a7511bcd 100644
--- a/src/instructlab/training/main_ds.py
+++ b/src/instructlab/training/main_ds.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import argparse
 import datetime
+import functools
 import logging
 import math
 import os
@@ -544,6 +545,28 @@ def train(
         )
 
 
+# This function makes an effort to stick to a default value from torch library,
+# whatever it may be. That's why we don't just set to the current (as of the
+# time of writing) default: to cover the unlikely event torch decides to tweak
+# the default.
+def _get_collective_timeout() -> datetime.timedelta | None:
+    timeout_var = os.getenv("INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS")
+    if timeout_var is None:
+        return None
+
+    try:
+        timeout = int(timeout_var)
+    except ValueError:
+        timeout = -1
+
+    if timeout <= 0:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Invalid value for INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS: {timeout_var}. Must be a positive integer."
+        )
+
+    return datetime.timedelta(milliseconds=timeout)
+
+
 def main(args):
     if args.distributed_training_framework == "deepspeed" and not FusedAdam:
         raise ImportError(
@@ -571,15 +594,17 @@ def main(args):
     model_conf = AutoConfig.from_pretrained(args.model_name_or_path)
     args.model_type = model_conf.model_type
 
-    # solution discovered from torchtune https://github.com/pytorch/torchtune/issues/2093
-    # gets converted to a timedelta of 1:40:00 if the default is kept
-    nccl_timeout = int(os.getenv("INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS", "6000000"))
     #### distributed init #####
     torch.cuda.set_device(int(os.environ["LOCAL_RANK"]))
     args.local_rank = int(os.environ["LOCAL_RANK"])
-    torch.distributed.init_process_group(
-        "nccl", timeout=datetime.timedelta(milliseconds=nccl_timeout)
-    )
+
+    timeout = _get_collective_timeout()
+    init = functools.partial(torch.distributed.init_process_group, "nccl")
+    if timeout is not None:
+        init(timeout=timeout)
+    else:
+        init()
+
     args.global_rank = torch.distributed.get_rank()
     tensor = torch.ByteTensor([False]).cuda()
     torch.distributed.all_reduce(tensor)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_main_ds.py b/tests/unit/test_main_ds.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..12b35127
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_main_ds.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Standard
+from unittest import mock
+import datetime
+
+# Third Party
+import pytest
+
+# First Party
+from instructlab.training import main_ds
+
+
+def test__get_collective_timeout():
+    # Test with default timeout
+    assert main_ds._get_collective_timeout() is None
+
+    # Test with custom timeout
+    timeout = 1234
+    with mock.patch.dict(
+        main_ds.os.environ, {"INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS": str(timeout)}
+    ):
+        assert main_ds._get_collective_timeout() == datetime.timedelta(
+            milliseconds=timeout
+        )
+
+    # Test with invalid timeout (negative)
+    invalid_timeout = "-100"
+    with mock.patch.dict(
+        main_ds.os.environ, {"INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS": invalid_timeout}
+    ):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            main_ds._get_collective_timeout()
+
+    # Test with invalid timeout (string)
+    invalid_timeout = "invalid"
+    with mock.patch.dict(
+        main_ds.os.environ, {"INSTRUCTLAB_NCCL_TIMEOUT_MS": invalid_timeout}
+    ):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            main_ds._get_collective_timeout()