That does seem strange and the short floc time would indicate that you used too much rennet. It could be intended to give you a very firm curd or it could be a typo in the recipe (I suspect the latter).
A firmer curd could be beneficial because it will give you more mechanical openings for the blue mould to develop in. It will also retain fat better. I'm not sure what the downside of too firm a curd might be but it may be that the cheese will retain too much whey and not age well in the long term. Others may be able to give you more information on this.
If you have been using the flocculation method with an appropriate multiplier, it is likely that your coagulation time may be about right regardless of the amount of rennet used.
I have seen that Country Brewer advise starting cultures the day before. The reason seems to be simply to verify that the culture is still good. This does not appear to be general practice: I haven't seen reference to it anywhere else