@illmattep you have several options.
Switching back to 52 is quite straightforward:
> arduino-cli core uninstall arduino:zephyr
> arduino-cli core install arduino:zephyr@0.52.0
> arduino-cli burn-bootloader -b arduino:zephyr:unoq -P jlink
If you flash the sketch with Arduino IDE (or arduino-cli) you're left with the problem of running your python code. You could do it from cli but you must install arduino app-utils in a venv, or maybe you could try and clone your app with the --no-sketch option (never tried it myself)