The almohads are very far away. Once in Vanilla I tried a "distanced aragonese Empire" through crusades, namely, launching one against... Estonia, I think. The idea was to load a prince into the crusade and, if Castile wiped me out in the Iberian peninsula, keep fighting from the north. It failed. When the AI noticed I was loading troops into a crusade, the moment it left it struck, leaving me defending my stronghold in Navarre (specifically picked to hold out in case THAT happened). They invaded there too the following year, the crusade was crushed, and my faction was annihilated.

If I were you I´d concentrate on building yourself a "safe homeland" before going on crusading adventures.

In territories without choke points, I like to leave token garrisons that can retreat to the keep and hold out for a long time (unless they get assaulted... a good reason for improving the defenses in those provinces), and a big army in the center, large enough to scare the invaders away if possible, and with a mobile unit combination that gives you versatility and speed when attacking.